


Heroes In Every Reality

by commander_0f_great_power



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Demigods AU, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Percy Jackson AU, SHE IS A QUEEN, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), big ol' family <3, chb vld au, gay squadd, klance, oblivious lance, pjo voltron crossover, space dads actually, they are all so beautiful, they deserve happiness, vld, vld pjo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-09-26 21:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20396740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commander_0f_great_power/pseuds/commander_0f_great_power
Summary: Paladins in one universe, demigods in another.Voltron's paladins, seemingly fated to meet in every universe, arrive together at camp half blood; and soon are swept into a crazy quest.Keith and Lance find the happiness they deserve.Adam and Shiro are alive and well.Romelle and Allura break the stigma around their cabins.Hunk and Shay just eat a shit ton of food together. <3Pidge is an ace aro queen who is happy to have all these wonderful, supportive friends.





	1. Promising Prodigies

**Author's Note:**

> This work is also on my other account on Wattpad :)  
Hope ya'll enjoy!

Adam sits alone, contemplatively scoping through a yearbook of his students. Most crossed out, notes scribbled next to some student portraits, exactly four cadets circled.

He was almost certain about his findings.

This had to be the explanation for why hellhounds had been stalking the campus since the beginning of the year.

He and Shiro had taken all precautions possible, several Hecate charms were masking their demigod scents. Sure, Shiro was a son of Zeus, and sure, that probably made him smell ten times stronger than most demigods.

But that was why Hecate cabin had insisted on eleven charms.

The garrison was fortified, layers of magic shrouding the scents of potential demigods amongst the student populace. There was no reason the hellhounds should have taken interest in the bustling campus.

And yet, here he was, making a Iris message to Coran.

Taking the yearbook and walking into the kitchen; Adam turned on the hot water, the sink soon filling the room with mist. Flipping a drachma into opaque cloud, Adam spoke, "Coran at Camp Half Blood please."

The mist shimmered in a rainbow gradient before taking the form of the orange mustached man. Coran was looking over papers in the big house, casually playing with his mustache.

Adam cleared his throat, effectively drawing the attention of the camp director. The descendant of Dionysus looked up, taking one last sip of his drink of choice, nunvill, before addressing Adam.

"Adam," Coran gave a friendly smile, "any developments regarding the garrison situation?"

"Well, yes," Adam sighed, "it's about that kid we took in, remember that kid Keith?"

Coran nodded thoughtfully, "Wasn't he the one who stole Shiro's car?"

Adam smiled fondly at the memory, "Yeah..."

"You really think he's a demigod?"

"Almost certain," Adam frowned at the details, "he's an orphan, the garrison is the first permanent home home he's had in years. Lots of discipline problems, and he carries a dagger around with him."

Coran raised an eyebrow, and Adam nodded, "We've gotten close enough to him where he finally trusts us, he's a real good kid, and he's got lots of potential."

"Interesting," Coran took another sip of nunvill, "have any idea who his parent could be?"

"Yeah," Adam looked down at Keith's picture, circled in red, "he finally trusted us enough to show us his blade, it appears to be Stygian iron; he said it's from his mom. Since he never has met his dad, Shiro and I are almost certain that he has a godly father. We can't make a great guess though, he's quite adept in numerous activities, and has taken an affinity to everything our curriculum has thrown at him."

Coran nodded thoughtfully, "Is that all? I've gotten reports of increased monster activity in your area."

Adam ran a hand through his hair, "There are some hellhounds that have been circling the school," Adam paused uncertainly, not wanting to reveal the duration of their interest, "they have been here since the beginning of the school year."

"I see," Coran twirled the end of his mustache, "thinking he might be a son of the big three, then?"

"Not necessarily, we have tons of charms on the campus, so there's no way that just his scent alone would draw a pack this size."

"So you think there are others?"

"As crazy as it seems, yes," Adam once again showed Coran the yearbook, revealing three more circled students, "it's rare to find multiple demigods in any school, but I think we have four here."

"A crazy coincidence," Coran nodded, " are you both really certain? Like you said, half bloods are a rare find nowadays, to have four in the same class seems... off."

Adam nodded, "I know it seems unlikely, but we have surmountable evidence for each of the picks."

Coran flipped another drachma into the mist, "In advance," he smiled knowingly, "I'm guessing this is going to take a while."

Adam nodded, and pointed to the green circled student, "You remember Matt Holt right?"

"Yes, brilliant Athena boy. Good lad, he's been a great help to me and the camp." Coran smiled kindly at the mention of the boy, "You and Shiro brought him back from the garrison, what, a year ago?"

"Yes, and since then his sister, Katie, has gotten banned from campus." Coran raised an eyebrow at the news, "She hacked into the garrison mainframe looking for information relating to her brother's disappearance. However, she was caught in the act, and Iverson barred her from ever coming back."

"Interesting, but what does this have to do with..." Coran squinted, reading the small print, "Pidge... Gunderson?"

"We think Katie is using Pidge as an alias to get into the garrison. Shiro is close with the Holts, and he's certain Pidge is Katie. I've spoken with Matt as well, shown him pictures, he says Pidge is a nickname he gave Katie."

"Yes but," Coran wiped sweat from his brow, becoming nervous, "Matt said he thought Colleen was Pidge's mother. Are you sure she could be another Athena child?"

"I understand why Sam would want to let Colleen be seen as Pidge's mother. It's never easy to be accepted in a situation like that." Adam shuffled around, pulling a paper from between the pages of the yearbook, "So to further prove my point, I have this."

Coran took a good gander at Pidge's grades, almost doing a double take in astonishment. He looked back at Adam, eyes wide.

"She has the highest grades in garrison history, even beating out Matt's. Her scores are off the charts. She's ingenuitive, intelligent, and cunning. She has to be a child of Athena."

"Solid case." Coran nodded in agreement, moving on to the yellow circled student, "What about this, Hunk... Gar-ret?"

"Hunk Garret is an amazing engineer, his ingenuity and ideas are far beyond anything our entire staff of researchers have come up with. Our most talented mechanic at the garrison. He's a strong case for a Hephaestus kid. Got good grades, nowhere near Pidge, but he averages 97% on his tests. He's constantly tinkering and he's always improving the equipment Iverson will let him get his hands on."

"No further explanation needed, sounds like a Hephaestus lad. Now, who's the last kid?"

"Lance McClain, kid was good enough to get here from Cuba on a full ride scholarship. He's a good pilot, ambitious and highly motivated. He's taken well to everything he's had to do, got a lot of natural talent."

Coran smiled approvingly, "Sounds like a nice lad."

"He is, very optimistic, kind, very flirtatious, and he's got a good heart. He's been in a flight group with Pidge and Hunk since the beginning of he year, they recently enlisted Keith. They all work pretty well together, and they have gotten close. They have good chemistry together, four charming prodigies." Adam smiled, "These three cadets show a lot of promise, they've even managed to befriend Keith."

Coran raised an eyebrow, asking for elaboration about the situation regarding Keith.

"Keith's always been a bit of a loner, has a hard time cooperating and listening to others. Hotheaded, but his heart is in the right place." Adam smiled, "We were really glad that he was able to find a group he gets along with; so far it's helped keep him out of trouble, and it's increased their groups productivity."

Coran nodded, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"I think you should get them out of there as soon as possible. It makes me feel uneasy that you have such a concentrated amount of demigod scent on that campus. Even with the charms, just one demigod on that campus could draw attention, but you have six, with at least one child of the big three. I know it isn't my place to comment, but I don't feel like you're safe."

"I agree," Adam sighed, "we need to get them out of here before things escalate, we know the hellhounds can already smell that something is off. We have a van we can take to New York, we'll be getting them to camp as soon as possible."

Coran gave an approving smile, "You lads stay safe out there, I'll be expecting you to arrive in a week's time."

"See you then, and take care. Takashi says hi - and please give our regards to Romelle and Allura."

Coran gave a salute, "Will do!"

With that, the excitable orange haired man faded back into the mist.

Looks like he and Shiro had some work ahead of themselves.

. . .

Word Count: 1425  
Published: 8/25/19


	2. Mystery Solved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plot Development through the form of an awesome sleepover, a thermal gun, and everyone's favorite dog.  
Also Klance happens a lil bit ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Just FYI, in this Pidge is a girl, no one suspects Pidge is a girl except Adam and Shiro, so the boys will misgender her in their speech, I use she/her pronouns for Pidge when in third person stuff)
> 
> ((Also did a bunch of editing of this chapter, felt like the Keith-Shiro dynamic didn't feel sbling-y enough, they weren't mean enough to each other))

Keith smiled happily at his accomplishment - he had just successfully jumped his hover bike off a cliff.

_A CLIFF!_

Adam wouldn't have approved, but then again,_ he wouldn't need to know._

_He also wouldn't need to know that Keith'd already done it six times today._

Shiro had taught him the trick, and Keith couldn't be more excited to flex his new skill on Lance the next time they went riding.

McClain would be _so_ jealous.

"Good job out there today, Keith," Shiro looked over at the young pilot, whose eyes were glowing in excitement. Shiro sighed, resigning to Keith's ambition, "you can do one more cliff dive, then we can get back to the garrison."

Keith was still shaking from utter exhilaration from his first six times, and although he was jumping at the prospect, he really wasn't dying to miss out on watching this sunset with Shiro - _Brotherly bonding time is important!_

Whenever they went out on rides together he treasured every moment. It was always fun, Shiro would teach him riding techniques, Keith would tell explain the Garrison gossip (with his limited understanding - he really couldn't bring himself to care about those people), and they would watch the desert sunsets - staying out until it was simply too cold for them to bear. 

_Or when Adam was done making dinner._

These moments with Shiro were some of the greatest times of his life.

Even though some aspects of the Garrison sucked, there was _some good._

Keith gave him an appreciative smile, turning back to look at the sunset before them, "Thanks for taking me out today. And for teaching me to ride. And for taking me under your wing. And for looking out for me." Keith rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck, "And for helping keep me out of trouble."

"You're welcome Keith," Shiro smiled lovingly at the boy, "thanks for being the little brother I never had." he paused thoughtfully before adding smugly, "And for teaching Adam and I that we shouldn't have kids."

Keith laughed, a sound that those around him found to be a rare and wonderful treat. It had become more and more common since he had befriended Lance and his trio.

Speaking of Lance,

"Hey Shiro?"

"Yeah Keith?"

"I think I like boys."

Shiro smiled proudly, taken aback, but not exactly surprised, "Dope." He slung an arm supportively around the boy's shoulders, "Proud that you're brave and comfortable enough to tell me."

Keith rolled his eyes, _Not like he had to be worried about anything._

Keith gave another laugh, "And thanks for not prying."

"You know I want to though..." Shiro squeezed Keith to his side, grey eyes burning with excitement, "So is it that Griffin kid? The one who you got in a fight with?" Shiro grinned cheekily, "Cuz' if so, then Adam totally owes me!"

Keith rolled his eyes, giving a sarcastically offended chuff and rolling Shiro's arm off from around his shoulders.

Shiro raised his eyebrow, and was met with Keith crossing his arms in return, _"O shit!" _ Shiro's grin widened, _"I guessed it, didn't I?!"_

Keith barely noticed the Shiro had switched to Japanese, (he tended to do this when he was excited, not even noticing himself) - Keith had been getting a lot better, living with Shiro definitely made his second language requirement easy to meet. He was basically fluent, and their conversations in the dorm mostly consisted of Korean, Japanese, and Adam's shoddy attempts at the two (he was trying, ok?). This constant practice freed Keith from the manditory language classes, which he was forever thankful for. He honestly didn't care to know half of the insults Lance threw at him when they raced through the desert together (usually Thursdays).

Also, since there were no classes for languages other than Spanish and French at school, they were free to cuss at each other whenever they felt like it. Half of the greetings Keith got upon entering Shiro's class were calling him _brother_, the other half _shithead_. 

_Thank whoever the fuck decided that the Garrison should only require one extra language. And the person who decided that the Garrison would only teach two._

Shiro was eyeing him even more suspiciously now, his eyebrow getting impressively high, _"Wanna give your bro a hint, or?"_

Keith instantly shut off, not wanting to give Shiro any more ammo than he _absolutely_ _needed_ to. Why was Shiro excited about having a brother - _they're so fuckin' nosy._

Shiro's eyebrow was getting close to shooting off his forehead at this point.

Keith reluctantly conceded, finally shaking his head, _"Nah, not my type,"_ he stood up offering Shiro his hand, continuing in English, "but, with my luck though, he's probably straight."

Shiro patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, everything will work itself out. Also: half of being gay is suffering through crushing on straight people, so get with it."

Keith sighed resigning to his fate, Lance was probably straight,_ I mean, he flirts with every girl we meet._

Keith ran, jumping smoothly onto his bike, "Race you!" He took off without another word, getting an early lead.

"IT'S NOT ABOUT SPEED, KEITH! IT'S EXECUTION THAT IS IMPORTANT!"

Keith slowed his bike, groaning, "Fine, Shiro, I'll-"

Before he could finish, he got a mouthful of sand, watching wide-eyed as the immature man-boy gained a lead on him, "Ha Keith! Try and win now!"

"SHIRO!"

Keith laughed heartily, barreling after his brother at break-neck speeds that would've made Adam kill them both if they managed to survive.

. . .

_They survived._

They arrived back to Shiro's apartment, covered in sand, laughing as they walked through the door.

"Hey guys, in here!" Adam's voice rang from the kitchen area.

"Hey babe! What's cooking?" Keith could hear Adam's eyes roll.

Keith walked into the kitchen, smiling at his brother's antics. He averted his eyes, giving the two adequate privacy to be tooth-rottingly adorable.

He sat down at the table, picking up his phone.

He was pleasantly surprised by two missed calls and four missed texts from Lance McBabe <3 <3

Keith smiled at his contact name, laughing at the memory.

When the two had first exchanged numbers, Lance had insisted in making his own contact. So, when Keith has inevitably received his phone back, he was surprised to find a 'Lance McBabe <3 <3' in his contacts.

Certainly it would be embarrassing if anyone ever saw it out of context, but it sure brought a smile to his face whenever he saw it. It was funny, endearing, adorable, and so uniquely Lance. He didn't have the heart to change the contact name.

He remembered last month when a study session with Pidge was interrupted by a call from Sir Lancelot <3

When Lance had volunteered to help Pidge with an experiment, he had gotten stuck out a second story window. Hunk and he received a call from 'Needa AmbuLance'

Ironic seeing how he was almost in need of an ambulance himself.

Keith looked over his texts, it was probably important, as Lance knew he always went on rides with Shiro on Fridays.

'When you get back from your ride meet in Pidge's room for a Mario kart tournament'

'Bring the food Adam's making for us and sum pjs'

'Thx man U the best'

'And don't be late <3'

Keith smiled down at his phone, typing a quick response,

'I'll make my way over when the foods done'

Keith flipped his phone over, looking over at the smitten couple over by the stove.

"Hey, is the food ready Adam? You're making some for the guys, right?"

Adam smiled over his shoulder at him, "Yeah," his smile turned sinister, "Lance McBabe and I had a nice chat."

Keith turned red at his accusation, "Adam I swear-"

"Wait is Lance the guy you-?"

"No Shiro," Keith gave an awkward shrug, nonchalantly trying to avert them from the topic before he gave himself away. _Of course __Lance had inadvertently exposed him to his dad-bro and his boyfriend_, "let Lance put his number in your phone and then get back to me."

Adam raised an eyebrow at Shiro, "So did I miss his whole coming out thing or-?"

Keith nodded, "Yeah, now we can all be hella gay, squad goals and all, but - y'know, _try to be low key guys._"

Shiro and Adam looked over at him, the former still very much wrapped around his boyfriend. Keith should've taken a picture, although it wouldn't make much sense considering the tagline would be left out. 

"Wait, are you not going to come out to your friends?" Adam began packaging up a generous portion for Keith to take.

"No. I don't mean it like that," Keith gave a cartoonishly bad wink, "just don't want word to get out that_ 'the gay'_ is contagious."

Shiro gave a shit eating grin, "Smart, that way they'll never see it coming."

Adam bumped Shiro out of his way with his hip, walking over and placing the foil parcel of lasagna in front of their unofficial son(?).

"Have fun, we'll see you tomorrow."

Keith smiled, giving both of them hugs before grabbing some 'pjs' from his room and heading out the door.

"Later!"

Shiro ran to the door, handing Keith his almost abandoned phone, "Call if you need anything!"

With that, Keith started towards Pidge's first floor dorm.

. . .

Pidge was one of the lucky few who didn't have to bunk with another student, which luckily for her meant that her secret was safe.

What that also meant is that her room was often selected for hangouts.

Sighing, Pidge opened the door for her two eager next door neighbors, resigning to the fact that Lance was probably going to break one of the inventions she had left out on her desk.

For a few seconds after they entered she stared blankly into the hallway, considering every bad decision that had led her to this point.

_I wonder how long it will take him this time befo-_

A loud crash sounded behind her, notifying her that she had already suffered a casualty from Lance's curious nature.

Closing the door, she walked over to her desk, trying to clear any other experimental equipment away from her monitor before Lance could destroy anything else.

Within minutes, they had started a race, Pidge and Lance shouting threats at each other as they fought for first place.

Both almost toppled over in anticipation and surprise when Hunk paused in the middle of the final lap.

The large Samoan boy rose from Pidge's bunk, opening the door for Keith; giving him a friendly greeting, only avoiding a hug because of his precious cargo.

"Hi Keith, what's up?"

Keith gave a shrug, "Y'all ok in here without me?"

"We all missed you soooooooo much," Lance's face peered around Hunk's shoulder, a smirk plastered to his lips, "it's just not the same without you Keef~"

One of Lance's lanky arms reached around Hunk, amicably ruffling Keith's hair.

Hunk rolled his eyes at the two, moving aside to let Keith in with their dinner.

"Hey Pidge," Lance pointed down at the lasagna sitting on the desk, "look it's you."

Pidge rolled her eyes, then opting that still wasn't enough, smacked her forehead in exasperation, "I knew I was going to regret telling you that."

Lance laughed, carving himself out a slice with silverware Adam had been kind (and understanding) enough to pack, "Italiano. Piz-za pie-ea. Marin-ara."

The Italian girl sighed, getting up from her bed to grab her portion.

They ate on the floor, discussing their next group project and upcoming flight simulations.

Hunk looked over at Pidge's laptop, which had been left open, displaying a basic orthographic projection of one of their most recent engineering assignments. They had quickly gotten into a discussion over the optimal placement of a screw on the turbine.

Keith smiled at his friends, letting a sense of calm and belonging wash over himself. He was really lucky to have people like these in his life.

Keith has been just about to sink his teeth into another bite of lasagna when a hand ran through his hair. Keith timidly looked over at Lance, who selfishly allowed himself to continue to brush through Keith's disorderly locks; unaware of Keith's embarrassment.

"You're hair is full of sand and dust," Lance absentmindedly raked his fingers through again, enjoying the feeling, "what did you learn from Shiro this time? _How to roll around in the desert?_"

Keith felt Lance's fingers secure around a tendril of his hair, and, trying to suppress a blush, gave a sly smile, "Naw." he pretended to check his nails, finding them to be full os sand themselves, "I learned how to properly ride my hover bike off a cliff."

Lance's eyes widened in shock, his hand forgotten, as it began to autopilot its way through Keith's hair again, "WHAT?! LUCKY! HE JUST CASUALLY TAUGHT YOU THAT?!" Lance paused, concern for Keith taking over, "WAIT, WHAT IF YOU DIED OR SOMETHING?!"

Keith rolled his eyes, giving a confident smirk, "Next time we go riding I'll show you." Keith leaned into Lance's hand a bit, barely anything at all, "It's really cool, you'd love it."

Lance's expression instantly changed, eyes and smile wide in sudden joy, "You'd really do that?" Lance tightly pulled the smaller boy into his chest in excitement, "Thanks Keef~"

Keith relished the contact, Lance's hands felt magical in his hair, his arms encircling him felt comforting.

This.

This was nice.

"You guys are really adorable," Pidge interrupted, "but Lance, please let Keith finish eating so I can beat your asses in this tournament."

Lance internally sighed, reluctantly releasing Keith and inhaling the last of his own food.

Keith hurriedly finished the last of his lasagna, politely cleaning up everything off the floor.

Pidge had changed the game settings, restarting so Keith could join into the fray.

They quickly got competitive, the races extremely close, the paladins often pulling in front of each other in the last seconds.

This was the decider, each of them had won three races, and they needed a tiebreaker. So they decided to go all in.

Pidge selected rainbow road, causing Lance to look over at her timidly, eyes suspicious and comically concerned, "Are you ok?"

Pidge smirked, "You scared?"

Hunk snickered, "Ooooooooo~ Lance, you just got called out!"

Lance glowered at the boy next to him, "Awww," Lance resigned, nuzzling lovingly into the larger boy's side, "I can't stay mad at you buddy!"

"Good, cuz Hunk and I are going to crush you."

Pidge and Hunk shared a fist bump, causing Lance to try to lunge across Hunk to strangle the little gremlin.

Keith grabbed his torso, trying to hold the angry boy back. Pidge just snickered from the other side of Hunk, safely shielded from Lance's fury.

"Lance, c'mon you're messing up our blanket." Keith pleaded, trying to pull him back down onto the mattress.

Lance resigned, sitting back down and adjusting the blanket over him and Keith, "Sorry."

Keith gave an amused smile, "It's fine, let's win, that'll show 'em."

Reaching over Lance, Keith grabbed the blanket covering the other two racers, yanking it so Pidge was left out.

Keith shot back into an upright position, feigning innocence. He could hear the gremlin angrily shuffling around, trying to get comfortable under the blanket again.

Keith cheekily met Lances eyes, happily surprised by the lack of retaliation from Pidge. His ocean eyes were wide and shining with excitement. He threw an arm around Keith's shoulders, pulling the shorter boy to his side and throwing a fist up in victory, "Revenge!"

Pidge started the race, "So are we really doing this 'teams' thing then?"

Lance crouched down, deadly serious, both hands now on his controller, "You know it."

The race started and the players shot off, Pidge and Keith taking an early lead, Lance shouted in excitement when Keith knocked her kart over the edge, "Let's go team!"

He knocked shoulders with Keith, in a mid-race high five, before almost falling over the edge, allowing Hunk to pass him.

A large commotion could be heard through the thin walls of Pidge's room, as the flight group fought tooth and nail for the victory.

Luckily, since it was a Friday, almost all of the students had 'snuck out' for a night on the town. The weekend had started, which meant that no one (staff or student) would be around to notice the loud sleepover in the student dorms.

Lance expertly aimed his green shell, causing Pidge to spin out, and Keith to pass the finish line first.

Pidge growled, seething in anger at how she had been pushed out of the way last second.

"So not fair!" Pidge lunged at the other team, barely restrained by Hunk, "Keith was cheating!"

"What do you mean he was cheating," Lance poked a finger in Pidge's face at her accusation.

"He didn't fall off once!"

"Yeah, so," Lance shrugged, "what's that got to do with anything?"

"The only reason he ever fell behind was when I blue shell-ed him." Hunk chimed in, "That's some _otherworldly_ skill."

Lance looked over at Keith who was smirking wildly at how the argument was playing out, "What can I say, it's my road."

Lance looked back at Hunk in confusion, the subtle remark going over their tall heads.

The two shortest paladins locked eyes, in silent confirmation.

_Was that a gay joke?_

Pidge had seen this coming, Keith had been setting off her gaydar for a while.

Pidge raised an eyebrow at the news, not surprised, but wondering why he would chose to put it that way. The other two were too dense for such a subtle tactic. _He would need some stronger gay jokes._

Hunk and Pidge resigned to their loss, letting Keith and Lance pick the movie. They ended up deciding as a groups anyways, since the antagonistic pair couldn't agree together on what to watch.

Pidge ended up hacking them into the garrison staff's secret cable service. Iverson paid for them to watch the new Voltron movie that night.

They often talked, joking about the characters and their strange resemblance to themselves.

When the movie was over, they stayed sitting on the bed, all too lazy to make better sleeping accommodations for themselves just yet.

Slowly Keith found himself getting drowsy. This was strange, he usually had a hard time finding sleep, but here sleep was, finding him instead. He was glad he had made it through the entirety of the movie, it had been really good, and he was really hoping for a sequel. He felt his head drop, which he quickly snapped up again.

"Hey, you ok?"

Keith sleepily met Lance's eyes, drowsily admiring the lovely shades of blue dancing in his irises, "Yeah, I'm just tired," he yawned, proving his point, "when my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out."

Lance looked back into Keith's half lidded violet-gray eyes, smiling admiringly at his friend, "Hunk and I will get our pjs from our room, and then we'll all get beds set up, ok?"

Keith nodded, his eyelids getting heavy as he gave another soft yawn. Lance couldn't help but find it adorable, reminiscent of a kitten.

Lance put an arm around Keith, letting the smaller boy sleepily nuzzle into his side, seeking warmth and comfort. He found it, too bad he'd have to change and eventually sleep on the ground.

. . .

Keith's head never actually hit a pillow, instead opting for Lance's shoulder, he'd realized, as he opened his eyes to a dark room. Careful not to disturb Lance, Keith got off the bed, gently covering up Lance with the blanket where he had once been.

Lance squirmed uncomfortably at the loss of Keith's warmth and weight in his side. Keith sighed sympathetically, "I know, you were comfortable _too_."

He smiled at his sleeping friends, they were all so sweet. Pidge and Lance had both snuggled into their side of Hunk, effectively using the boy as a large pillow. It was honestly adorable.

Making his way over to his phone, he checked the time, 3:30 am, his usual. Keith always had trouble sleeping, and although tonight had been an exception, he was once again devoid of a good night's sleep. Normally he would sneak into the garrison's state of the art gym for some practice with a sword, but it was shut down indefinitely this weekend.

Sighing, Keith looked over at the moonlight shining in through Pidge's window, basking the room in a blue-ish hue. That's when he noticed _it_, timidly sitting in a corner of the room, _his puppy._

Well, technically, it wasn't _his_, he just saw it around a lot. Sure, he fed it regularly too, and loved it dearly; but it wasn't a pet, no, those weren't allowed at the Garrison. Whenever he wasn't around his friends or his parents, the strange pup would walk around with him. It would go with him to classes, just walk through the halls, no one would pay it any mind. It was if they just ignored it.

At first Keith thought he was hallucinating, after all, the wolf-like pup had strange blue markings, had shown up in the middle of the night, and had somehow ended up in his room in Shiro's apartment; _which was on the third floor._

However _he knew_ it wasn't fake, it was able to eat whatever Keith fed it._ But then why did no one else seem to care about the fact that he was clearly bringing a pet into some of his classes?_

Soon after he had joined their flight group, he thought to ask Pidge about it; walking up to his friend after class, but when he looked back, his dog had vanished. He'd have to wait until later to ask about the strange pup, but whenever the opportunity came, the dog vanished.

He walked over to the dog, reaching out and encircling it gently in his arms. The dog visibly calmed, feeling safer now that it's human was there to protect it from the other scary half bloods.

Keith gently stroked the long fur of his beloved pupper, the dog happily leaning into his hands.

Keith gathered the remains of their dinner, giving the puppy a generous portion of Adam's famous lasagna.

He smiled, this would be a great opportunity to show the mysterious mutt to his friends.

Taking the dog safely in his arms, he slowly walked over to his friends. The puppy immediately began to squirm, showing discomfort at being brought closer to the sleeping students.

"Don't worry," Keith shushed the pup's quiet whimpers of fear, stroking the pup comfortingly, "they won't hurt you, they're my friends. They'll love you little guy."

The pup quieted down, seeming to understand Keith's words. Still a bit on edge, the pup allowed Keith to sit down on the bed.

"There you are," Lance lazily lifted a heavy eyelid at his voice, trying to see what Keith could possibly be talking about, "see, no need to be scared little guy."

Lance groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes, not really comprehending his surroundings. When he finally opened his eyes, he found a happily smiling Keith, with a puppy in his arms.

Lance, mind still asleep, smiled, not able to make a response or voice his questions. Instead he stayed still as Keith gently held the dog close to Lance so he could be sniffed.

The small hellhound sniffed the strange demigod, very untrusting in nature; but if his chosen trusted the boy, so could he.

The 'dog' delicately sniffed the Cuban boy, his slightly wet nose cold against Lance's own. Keith swelled with pride when the dog's tail wagged approvingly, licking Lance's cheek.

Lance laughed, gently pushing away the pup, "Cute, what's it's name?"

"I figure when he's ready, he'll tell me his name." Keith jokes, receiving a skeptical glance from the half asleep boy. Resigning to the fact Lance was to tired to comprehend he had just made a joke, Keith shrugged, "I haven't been able to come up with any good ones."

Lance stretched, finally waking all the way up and looking out the window, at the stars, "How about Kosmo? With a k?"

Keith smiled, it wasn't half bad, he looked over at the small pup, "That sound good to you?"

Kosmo jumped and barked happily, his small stature causing the bed to bounce only slightly.

"Sounds like a yes."

Pidge groaned, deadpanning, "What are you guys doing? It's like three in the _fucking_ _morning_."

Keith got up, grabbing Pidge her glasses so she could properly see Kosmo in his full glory.

Pidge rubbed her eyes, wiping her glasses with her sleeve before putting them on. She looked up, observing Kosmo curiously, "You have a pet?"

"I guess." Keith shrugged, "I just take care of him sometimes. So, you both - see him?"

Keith instantly smacked his forehead, what kind of question was that? Of course they could, they were referring to Kosmo in their conversation!

Lance was about to comment on Keith's strange question when Pidge spoke up, "No wait! - I understand what you meant by that, Keith - just wait a sec."

Pidge shook Hunk awake, pointing to the dog, "You see it right?"

Hunk nodded sleepily, confused by the strange question and the new dog, but saying nothing, knowing not to interrupt his friend's process.

Pidge nodded thoughtfully, beckoning her friends over to the window. She pointed out, not at the sky, but at the desolate sands surrounding them, "You see those shadowy coyote things?"

The boys squinted at the horizon, making out the fuzzy black silhouettes Pidge was referring to. They nodded, making their way back to the bed to listen to Pidge's impending lecture.

"I saw them around this time the second night I was here." Hunk raised an eyebrow in disapproval, and Pidge scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, "I stay up late doing projects, ok?"

"Anyways, the next day I asked Iverson about it, and he said he hadn't seen anything. Everyone I asked said they had no idea what I was talking about."

"I hacked into the garrison security feed, but there was nothing." Pidge walked over to her desk, pulling out a bunch of equipment, "Since then, I've learned that they can't be photographed or recorded."

"Hey!" Hunk recognized his stuff, "I was wondering where that went! - And I was wondering why you wanted to borrow that."

"I used sonar and radar, but they don't show up on the map." Pidge sighed, "I thought I was going crazy."

She pulled out a pair of binoculars, causing Lance to give an indignant cry, "Hey! That was a gift from my sister!"

"Please," Pidge gave a small smirk, "you wouldn't have even realized I took them if I didn't take them out."

Lance crossed his arms, sitting back with a huff.

"Anyways, I tried looking for them during the day, to try and show someone, but they were never out, like they didn't exist." she motioned a thumb over at the window, "They only show up at night."

"So lastly, I tried this," Pidge held up her and Hunk's thermal imaging gun, "Its the basis of my theory, whenever I point it at the coyote things they appear to be extremely cold."

Pidge brought out her laptop, opening up to an interpreter program she had made; Hunk, meanwhile, picked up the gun he had assembled, pointing it out the window and taking a snapshot of data.

They looked at the strange image on the screen.

The first image was normal, the the dark night sky, the sand, tinted blue by the moonlight; with no sign of mysterious coyotes anywhere. The next picture was the same scene, just using thermal imaging. The color scale showed that the sky was very cold, an empty black expanse. The sand was blue, still cold, as it was night, but not nearly as frigid as space.

Surrounded by the cold temperature of the sand, were cold spots: black smudges in the sea of blue sand.

"When you juxtapose these images, you can see that both the sky and the sand are extremely cold. But there are these strange anomalies here," Pidge motioned to the cold spots in the scan, "which have no reasonable explanation when looking at the regular picture."

She gestured to the other image, which showed nothing but the desolate desert landscape.

"My theory is that the cold anomalies are those weird giant coyote things out there." Pidge nodded her head at Lance, "Hunk."

The boy mentioned took a scan of Lance, his data showing up on the screen shortly after, "Lance comes up red and yellow in this image because humans are warm blooded. We maintain a good internal temperature averaging around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Which means..." Lance continued breathlessly, "That they..."

"They aren't coyotes. Whatever they are, they are as cold as the empty abyss of space." Pidge pushed up her glasses, the lenses reflecting the moonlight, "They are colder than any animal ever recorded, and by scientific standards, are impossible. They are simply too cold to perform life-preserving cellular functions."

Keith nodded following along, "So, you think that Kosmo is one of them then?"

"Let's find out," Pidge smiled at their group's discovery, "Hunk, if you'll do the honors."

Keith held Kosmo out towards the camera, Hunk quickly taking the scan, before giving Kosmo a gentle scratch under the chin.

The room was silent for a second as the images loaded, Lance scooting behind Pidge to see the results of the scan.

"It looks like he's one of 'em, Keith." Lance smiled, rubbing Kosmo's belly, "Looks like you have your own cool-magic-coyote-wolf-dog."

"Yeah Keith! How cool is that!" Hunk beamed at the blissful doggo, "He's so cute too."

Keith smiled, "I guess he is pretty cute," Keith scratched Kosmo's sweet spot, right behind his left ear, "Pidge? Any comments? Normally you would've had something to say by now."

Pidge beckoned Lance closer to her, the two quietly conversing over the image of Kosmo.

Hunk and Keith met eyes nervously.

"Hunk, can you take another scan of Keith?" Hunk looked over at her, confused.

"Just him?"

"Just him." Lance was now looking at her laptop from over her shoulder, "Keith, please take off a glove and only wear one sleeve of your jacket."

"Any preference over which one?" Keith asked, half-joking but also not wanting to waste Pidge's 'oh-so-valuable-time'.

"The one you weren't holding Kosmo with would be nice."

He was confused by her request, but complied, leaving his left arm bare for Hunk's scan.

Hunk, now juggling Kosmo, took another recording.

Pidge frowned at the new picture, this made even less sense. She pulled up the last scan, putting the images next to each other.

Keith shivered, covering his arm again. Hunk took notice, quickly wrapping him up in one of Pidge's blankets.

"It's a mistake, right?" Lance's voice was riddled with concern, "There's no way..."

Pidge sighed, "It shouldn't be possible, but here we are." Pidge turned to Keith, "How do you feel, temperature wise?"

Keith shrugged, "I don't know, a little cold, but nothing major."

He looked over her shoulder at the screen. The image of him and Kosmo was as expected, Kosmo was as cold as the other anomalies. Keith's hands stood out against the black of Kosmo's coat, a very vibrant red. Yet in the back, the rest of Keith's body was a dark blue, not nearly as cold as Kosmo, but a concerningly close second.

In the second picture, it was clear that Keith himself was also cold, even without Kosmo, his temperature extremely low. But on his exposed arm, it was clear something was off. His hand glowed a bright red, fading into the cool blue further up his forearm. the blue of his body temperature was colder than the blue-green rating of his shirt.

He was colder than his own clothing.

Keith's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, lips forming a small pout, and making Lance's heart flutter in utter adoration for the boy.

_Why must he be so cute? _Was Lance's next, and very much unconscious, thought.

Lance walked over to the smaller boy, cupping his cheeks tenderly, "He doesn't feel cold to the touch."

Lance focused on his hands, as if that would suddenly make him feel the cold he was supposed to experience. He was shocked when his fingers were met with increased warmth instead.

Keith bashfully directed his eyes away from Lance. He was too close. Lance didn't understand the influence, _the_ _effect_, he had on him. He could feel his cheeks heat at Lance's proximity.

Pidge frowned, "With a reading that cold, you should be able to feel it just through touching him." She glared at her data, "Try his hands, they seem to be way hotter than the normal 98.6."

Gently releasing his face, Lance took Keith's hand in his, enveloping it in warmth, "To be honest, it's actually a little bit cold."

"The other one?"

Lance took joined their other two hands, Keith abashedly looking down at the floor, "Same here."

Pidge groaned, slumping back in her chair defeatedly, "This makes zero sense. At least I was able to prove my last theory. Nothing here is adding up!"

Hunk finished tucking Lance and Keith into a blanket cocoon, (Lance's request), before looking over at Pidge. He placed a comforting hand on Pidge's shoulder, "Don't worry bro, you'll get it eventually. We all know you will, right guys?"

Lance smiled, rubbing circles in Keith's palm absentmindedly, "Yeah! Pidge is the smartest, he'll figure it out for sure, right Keith?"

The smaller boy smiled, overcoming his Lance-trance to nod approvingly at Pidge.

Pidge smiled at the compliment, turning back to her laptop, before letting the smile turn slightly sad.

She should tell them.

She knew they were good people, she could trust them. _Their hearts were in the right place._

She looked back at the boys, Hunk fussing over Lance and Keith. The boy in red petting his mystery dog with his free hand, the blissful boy in blue next to him encasing his other hand in his two, trying to 'warm it up'.

_To whatever god(s) exist, just help me with Lance. Sure he means well, but, he would accidentally out me within two days of me telling him. It's not worth the risk._

In all honesty, being called a boy didn't hurt nearly as much as being dishonest with her friends. She sighed, this secret was eating away at her; but she could survive being misgendered for a little while longer. 

_For Matt._

She looked over at her bed, Hunk had sat back down; noticing her gaze, he patted the space next to him welcomingly. Pidge quickly closed her laptop, resting her glasses on top of the cover before settling down next to Hunk.

She snuggled into his side, "You'll figure out this whole Keith puzzle tomorrow buddy, don't sweat it. Sweet dreams." He put a comforting arm around her.

She was thankful to have friends like him. And Keith. And Lance.

Speaking of Lance...

She cheekily snuck a peak at the other two boys, her vision bleary from tiredness and lack of glasses. Were they still being oblivious and adorable together?

Lance had set off her gaydar from the beginning, but he had never shown interest in anything outside of females, making Pidge feel strange for suspecting he wasn't straight. Since they had been put in the same flight group, he had flirted with basically every girl they came across.

Clearly Keith was new territory. And clearly he was smitten with the boy.

_But knowing him, he's oblivious to the fact that he likes boys too. He can be so dense sometimes..._

With that thought, Pidge was out.

Hunk soon followed, enjoying the familial feeling of snuggling with his small friend.

Keith was surprisingly drowsy, in Lance's embrace he found himself getting tired once again. Normally at this time he would be training, his insomnia being good for allowing him more time to practice. Only now, encircled in Lance's arms, did he realize how tired he was; how _exhausted_ his body was, how _expended_ his mind was - all from accumulative sleepless nights.

Lance was so warm, the blankets were soft, Kosmo's head was resting on his thigh. _Everything felt right._

When Keith's head found the crook of Lance's neck, his lights were out for the second time that night.

Lance, however, sat awake, finally able to think about the day's events.

_Pidge was competitive as ever, ruthless and vicious. Hunk had really gotten into it, even he had let out his competitive side. Keith was hella good at rainbow road._

_Keith._

_Keith had a magic super cold dog thing. It didn't look like a coyote up close, maybe the others were like that too! Maybe-_

Lance shook his head, theories could wait for when Pidge was awake tomorrow.

_Keith had been super cold on thermal imaging._

_That was weird_, Lance let his hand drift up and down Keith's upper arm, hoping the friction could help give him more warmth, he doesn't feel cold though...

Keith.

He'd only been friends with him for a few months, but he felt as close to him as he was with Hunk and Pidge. When they had finally all met up, everything had clicked, and just like that, their group was finally complete.

Sure, they had a small rivalry, but, can two boys with competitive streaks avoid that?

Keith was fun to be around, and helped balance their friend group out, they all worked great together.

But the closer he got to Keith, the more emotions he felt towards the shorter boy.

Emotions he didn't understand, things he hadn't felt before. All he knew was that they felt nice, and that he would do anything to feel them again.

So he would indulge himself, getting close to the Korean boy whenever possible, taking every opportunity to just bask in his presence, his own strange feelings.

Lance certainly couldn't pinpoint what he felt for Keith, but that wouldn't deter him from trying to find out.

Not that Keith would mind getting extra attention from his crush.

. . .

Word Count: 5747  
Published: 8/25/19


	3. Actual Sleep, For Once...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The voltron squad wakes up and has a nice morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Watch out for the klance fam it be strong in this one.)

Pidge had woken up first that morning, feeling surprisingly well rested considering the whole ordeal with Kosmo they had went through last night.

She had experienced a very vivid dream just before, but she could not recall it, annoying her to no end.

One of the things their group had in common was their strange dreams, all of them commonly experiencing obscure dreams. 

Dreams, so vivid it felt like you were there. Keith could recall every detail from a number of dreams where he watched a strange boy raise an army of dead and lead them to war.

Dreams, in situations that made no sense, with people they had never met. Lance had sworn he had a dream about a boy named Percy, who had been traveling by bus to meet his girlfriend, Annabeth. Another where they played tag on the shore of a gleaming lake. Another and so on, that was the idea. He had no idea who either of them were.

Dreams, that felt so real it was as if they could really feel the pain. Pidge once had a dream she was a part of a group of teenaged huntresses, sustaining arrow wound during a fight. When she had awoken the the next morning, she had an inexplicable bruise in the exact same location - _Wack, man._

Dreams, that seemed even, prophetic. Hunk had once dreamed of the upcoming test being cancelled due to a cadet getting expelled. The next week, when a student was caught stealing the test answers, and they had gotten out of the bio exam.

They all had strange dreams, often having impromptu sleepovers with each other when they had vivid nightmares. Pidge smiled, recalling the night where she had dreamt she was in the mythological Tartarus; the rest of the night she hadn't wanted to go back to sleep.

Keith has dragged himself out of bed when he heard the news, bringing a bunch of movies and stealing from Shiro and Adam's candy stash, just for her. Lance and Hunk had taken the group into their room where they had a movie marathon for the rest of the night, even though the others had been deathly tired.

They were great friends.

She looked over at the sleeping boys, their faces all blissful in the luxurious confines of sleep.

They were all calm, not showing any signs of unrest from the occurrences the night before. It was if nothing incredibly strange, concerning, and supernatural happened just hours before.

How could all of them be so calm about this? Why wasn't she more concerned about what was going on?

Should they do anything about their revelations tonight?

_Why had no one freaked out? Were they all ok? Were they all sane? Should she be concerned for their mental states?_

She sighed,_ I guess I've surrounded myself with others just as crazy as me..._

She rubbed her eyes, wishing that her brain would let her snuggle back into Hunk's side and go back to sleep. However, knowing her crazy sleep schedule, that was a luxury she would not be able to obtain.

She was far too awake _this_ early in the morning.

Giving a sigh of resignation, she settled back into Hunk's side, deciding to let the others get some rest before they started their days. No need to wake them up at an unholy hour too.

Surprisingly, Pidge found herself being woken up by Hunk two hours later, the girl shocked by the fact that she had managed to fall asleep again.

Her body was happy with her for once, getting more than six hours of sleep making her a lot more enthusiastic about her day.

She was actually awake for once, without caffeine; _now that was something._

She got up from her green comforter, Hunk informing her that it was 9:00, and that he was thinking about getting some breakfast for Lance and Keith, "I just don't have the heart to wake them up," the boy smiled empathetically at the pair, "I mean, they just look so comfortable together."

Pidge stretched, humming in agreement. After cuddling with Hunk, she could understand how surprisingly easy and nice it was to sleep snuggled up with a friend.

She would let them enjoy their last minutes of rest.

She took a few pictures, for sentimental purposes (and for potential blackmail, in case Lance decided to cross her), Hunk cooing adoringly at their friends all the while.

"Please send those to me."

"You know it."

. . .

Pidge and Hunk went off to the kitchen, at first to get the four a quick breakfast, but Hunk had ended up insisting on making a more gourmet option.

Pidge was now Hunk's sous chef, helping with he preparation of various ingredients as her friend got to work over the stove.

The large boy was in his element, wistfully thinking back to cooking with this family; they would be proud their recipes were now making his friends happy too. He chose one of his mother's favorite dishes, Lahoh, and put Pidge to work.

Pidge was very accommodating to his requests, which he would weird; normally he would expect some resistance or refusal to his tasks. Normally Pidge would be _hella_ tired right now. But today, Pidge seemed really willing to comply - _strangely willing..._

"Hey man, is something up?" Pidge gave him an questioning glance, "You seem to be a lot more, _awake_, than usual."

Pidge sighed shaking her head, "I guess this is what it's like to be well rested. It's been forever since I've slept this long. I feel really great." She smiled, "Plus, with the weekend here, no big projects; I can catch up on sleep now,_ if that's even possible for me._"

Hunk smiled, "That's good to hear."

He flipped the pancake-like concoction in his pan, gaining Pidge's attention with the foreign food.

"So, chef," Pidge joked, "what are we making this morning?"

Hunk smiled, reminiscing in memories of making this with his family in the morning. And now he was sharing this with Pidge, he _loved_ cooking with his friends, "This is Lahoh, I'm using my grandmother's traditional recipe."

Pidge nodded thoughtfully, "Looks good, anything else I can do to help?" She looked over at her workstation, which was barren and barely used, "I feel like I haven't contributed a lot."

"You can get out some honey and that ghee I made for our breakfast last week. And if you're feeling up to it," he smiled encouragingly, "you can even have your hand at making your own."

Pidge smiled, it was moments like these that made her feel accepted.

Like she had a purpose for everything.

It was nice to have such a good friend.

. . .

Lance awoke to harsh pokes to his cheeks - _Dios, __Pidge's finger were bony._

Screwing his face in discomfort, Lance lazily willed his eyes open, quickly resigning and letting them shut again.

Since when was Pidge's room _this_ bright?

Lance rubbed at his eyes sleepily, unwrapping an arm from around Keith in the process.

"What time is it?"

Pidge was visually malicious, Hunk stepping in, trying to avoid whatever mischievous teasing she was about to launch into.

"Around ten," Hunk smiled gently, "we weren't planning on waking you at all, _I, for one, _wanted to let you guys get all the sleep you wanted."

He sent a pointed glare at Pidge, who shrugged indifferently, "What?!" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, "Can you blame me? It seemed like a great teasing opportunity!"

Hunk sighed, "Just leave him be, Pidge."

Pidge rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say man," she gestured over at the four plates on her desk, two of which were empty, "we made you breakfast, when you are ready, feel free to eat. I put a lot of work into those, y'know."

Hunk smiled at her approvingly, "Hers turned out surprisingly good too."

Pidge elbowed him at the smug remark, before muttering a half-assed _'whatever'_

Lance nodded, noticing Hunk and Pidge gathering their stuff, "You guys going somewhere?"

Pidge nodded, "We're going to use Hunk's workbench, we'll be right next door if you need anything."

Hunk smiled, adding, "I'll try to keep him out of your stuff while we're in there."

"Yeah, make sure he doesn't gather any _sensitive information._"

Pidge rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the sting of incorrect pronouns her friends had just used, "I have more blackmail on you than you can imagine. Lance, at this point, _I know more about you than you do._"

Lance rolled his eyes, oblivious to the truth of her statement, "Yeah, whatever, just let us sleep."

Lance lazily let his eyelids drop, securing his arm back around Keith.

Hunk quietly ushered Pidge out of the room, the two grabbing their things before hustling out of the dorm.

Lance heard the door close behind them, barely conscious of his surroundings at this point.

If he was honest, he wasn't really sleepy at this point, but he was incredibly comfortable, and his body was still tired, unlike his mind.

He let out a deep breath, his chest sinking. Light from Pidge's window dimly fought with his eyelids, trying to rouse the boy from his resting state.

He refused, tightening his arms around the boy leaning on him. He was surprised by a response, his neck being tickled by Keith's hair.

Lance's stomach fluttered, his unawakened feelings growing, unbeknownst to the oblivious and confused boy.

The boy nuzzled his head into Lance's neck further, the raven locks brushing against the sensitive skin.

Lance didn't understand why, but he loved the friction, the sensation, and the aftermath of butterflies in his belly.

It all felt so nice, and through the should've known what he was feeling, he just couldn't pick up on the clues.

All he did was hug Keith closer, spurring the sleeping boy to seek more friction.

One of Lance's hands found Keith's hair, and his fingers soon found themselves entangled in the dark mess.

Once Lance had absentmindedly brushed through the mass of black with his digits, he began to play with the tendrils, twirling them around his index finger.

His other hand left it's post in the small of Keith's back, assisting the other in weaving a minuscule, clumsy braid.

Once finished, the hand returned to it's place, rubbing comfortingly at the disheveled fabric there.

He hugged the smaller boy to him, earning another nuzzle from his companion. It was like having an adorable human teddy bear.

Lance let out a contented sigh, not understanding why he found this so pleasurable, yet indulging in the action anyway, ignorant to the connotations of his situation.

His sigh was met with a movement from Keith, the smaller boy had migrated from Lance's shoulder, and was now situated snugly on his chest, Lance's legs on each side of him.

The boy snuggled into his shirt further, his hands gently clutching at the fabric. Lance lifted his eyelids again, now starting to feel more awake.

Lance felt himself smile at the sight, his chest sparking with inexplicable warmth, he just felt - _content_.

Everything was perfect. This, _this was right._

Lance didn't understand why he felt this way, didn't know what he was doing, or even _what he was feeling._

All he knew was that he liked it, and that he would do anything to feel like this some more.

It was probably getting late in the day, but Lance couldn't bring himself to care, _he was happy._

. . .

Anyone close to Keith knew that he was not one to sleep in, and an exceptionally light sleeper.

Keith himself, further knew about his own insomnia, both from a ravaging amount of vivid nightmares and an overall inability to find sleep; no matter how _desperately_ he needed it.

So, when Keith found himself waking up the next day, in the limbo-esque state of being half-conscious, he was shocked to realize he had been asleep.

Like, _for an extended period of time._ Actual _hours_.

The next shock came from how content he was, normally his head would be bustling with thoughts, but now, he couldn't even return to questioning his own sleep patterns.

He was pleasurably numb, barely conscious of anything, yet not unnerved by not being aware of his surroundings.

He felt _safe_.

And he felt _comfortable_.

He was surrounded by a reassuring warmth, his frame perfectly complimented by whatever he was laying on. It was absolutely perfect.

He felt as if he was in a cocoon, it just was so comfortable, as if this mattress-thing was tailored, just for him, by some greater power.

The contours of his body fit like puzzle pieces into the not-too-soft-but-not-too-hard surface, supporting his figure perfectly.

He felt his hands tighten on the material beneath him, had he always been holding this?

Whatever, _this felt right._

Keith felt himself instinctively rub his face into the surface beneath him, instantly finding his thoughts bombarded by the strange textures surrounding him.

There was the unidentifiable cloth, clasped in his fingers, definitively a fabric he had felt before.

But this other, more foreign texture, the one that brushed against his nose, which he glided his cheek across, which he leaned his forehead against, that was smooth.

He liked this one a little more though. He didn't know why, but he felt like he might not feel this one again for a while.

It felt familiar, as though he had briefly experienced it a few times before now.

Yet it felt so rare, exotic, entrancing. Like a luxury.

He didn't know why, but he was inclined to rub his face against it more.

So he did.

_So what?_

_It felt nice._

The friction created between his skin and the mystery material was like a drug. It felt so good, too good, and he couldn't stop.

So he didn't.

That was, until, the thing underneath him groaned; vibrating against Keith's forehead.

It wasn't a loud noise, just a low, normally indistinguishable hum. Where it would likely be insignificant any other day, Keith only noticed it because of how close he was.

The hum sent tremors across Lance's chest, subsequently, reverberating through Keith.

The vibrations traveled through Lance's neck, meeting the skin of Keith's forehead.

It rumbled through his collarbone, being met with the other boy's cheek.

It lightly undulated though his body, the sound small, the effect _large_.

Keith felt as though an ember had been sparked in his chest, starting a fire that would soon consume him; that sensation, _that sensation had felt amazing._

Lance felt the boy move almost instantaneously, although slow.

He gently tilted his face back, Lance's neck now being met by the bridge of his nose.

Keith's eyes lazily fluttered open.

Lance felt himself give a small gasp as Keith's eyelashes raked across the sensitive skin of his neck.

He felt a wave of excitement wash over him in a forceful wave, threatening to drown him, consume him in it's agenda; _this feeling, it felt - amazing._

Keith has just become all too aware of where he was. He was fully aware of _everything_ now.

The caramel color of Lance's skin all he needed to see to confirm his newfound suspicions.

Everything made sense now, the exotic-ness of Lance's skin, the familiar fabric of Lance's shirt, the soft, steady pulse of his heart under him, the way his 'mattress' had been able to surround him.

Keith was now acutely aware of the weight of Lance's arms around him, settling perfectly in the subtle dips of his sides.

They fit together like puzzle pieces, and Keith silently cursed himself, _not now treacherous feelings! He is just a friend, I'm only setting myself up for heartache._

_Dammit Lance, why do you have to be so perfect for me and yet so, so, straight?!_

The ember in his chest had ignited a raging fire, and Keith was already engulfed in the flames. Lance had lit a flame of ardor in Keith's heart, _a blaze that Keith was desperately failing to put out._

Shiro's joking words came back to haunt Keith, he was in love with a straight boy. _Screw you too, universe._

Keith brought his hands up to rub at his eyes, _cutely_, if Lance may unconsciously add, as if to alleviate some of the awkwardness he was feeling, being in such an embarrassing and vulnerable position with someone.

Keith pushed himself up slightly, giving the other boy a sheepish, yet somehow gorgeous, smile, "Good morning...?"

Lance smiled fondly, completely unaware of why Keith was so abashed, giving a sleepy, "g'morning." Before pulling the other boy down, flush to him, earning a surprised gasp from said boy.

Lance felt a swell of excitement in his stomach from being the cause of that noise, still not being able to pinpoint why he liked it. Only that he did.

"Five more minutes~" Lance hummed charmingly. Keith weakly agreed, barely able to nod, crimson flames engulfing his cheeks, flustered beyond belief.

That five had turned into ten, then fifteen, and then twenty.

The two had later eaten a very cold breakfast together, chatting amiably about their plans, all traces of awkwardness gone.

. . .

Word Count: 2800

Published: 8/25/19


	4. Flexing Kosmo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and his team try their hardest to flex his dog and the corresponding scientific discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just pure confusion regarding the fact that they are the only ones that can see through the mist.

The two boys had shared a relatively peaceful - and very late - breakfast.

Which had led to some of their trademark banter.

Which had led to Pidge and Hunk walking in on the two boys comparing heights.

It was a bit confusing for all, considering Lance was distinguishably taller than the other boy, a good four inches.

Despite this, Keith insisted that the oil-splattered Hunk officiate their measuring.

The large boy had kindly overlooked Keith standing on his tiptoes, almost catching up with Lance.

Lance, after confirming he was - _in fact_ \- taller than Keith, dismissed Hunk, allowing the boy time to clean up from the project he and Pidge were making.

While Hunk changed in his room, Pidge garbled a bunch of science nonsense, trying to simplify the programming she was preparing for the robot she and Hunk were building.

Lance zoned out through most of it though, he was trying to listen, _honest! _But no matter how hard his mind insisted, he kept finding his eyes drifting back to the boy in the red jacket. His thoughts too.

How nice it had felt being that close to him.

How he wanted to hold him close again. To play with his hair-

Lance didn't notice the dazed smile that involuntarily rose to his lips, not avoiding Pidge's scrutiny, "Lance?"

No response. Pidge tracked his gaze to Keith, the boy actually attempting to comprehend her explanation. She smiled inwardly.

Did either of them understand what was going on?

"Lance!" She waved a hand in front of his face, "Hello? You in there?"

Lance shook his head, shaking himself out of his unconscious train of thought, "Yeah?"

"You tired or something?" Pidge laced some sarcasm into her tone, "Normally you'd be all over this academic shit."

Lance rolled his eyes at her, jumping in to defend his pride, "No need to rub it in - I'm not even that bad - I'm average" he looked over at her desk, already crowded with work, "unlike you guys, who are above average."

"You guys are just super smart," Lance gave Pidge a pointed look, "that doesn't make us less smart than the 'common folk', right Keith?"

"Hey, don't drag me down too!" Keith gave Lance a smirk, "My grades are better than yours."

"By .1, okay?!" Lance seethed, reaching around Pidge to try and get at the other boy, ".1 Keith!"

Keith crossed his arms and leaned away, smirk morphing into a shit eating grin, "Still better."

Pidge resigned to letting their harmless bickering continue, already too caught up in the situation to diffuse their pointless competition.

Not to mention she was literally caught in between the boys, who she knew were one phase away from 'all-out wrestling' one another on the floor.

As soon as she heard knocking on the door, she got up to let Hunk in - just in time, as soon as she was out of the way Lance's arms had rushed at Keith, trying to pin him to Pidge's bed.

Pidge opened the door, opting to stand in the doorway with Hunk, watching the match unfold, "Whats this one over?"

Pidge took a second and mentally retraced their conversation, "Grades..?"

The two inventors watched the boys circle each other in the narrow dorm, Kosmo joining them in the door frame. Hunk smiled, taking Kosmo into his arms, amused by his friends' antics, "Lance started it, right?"

Pidge shrugged, eyeing them with cynical curiosity, "Actually it was more 'both of them' this time."

She didn't dare take her eyes off the two boys, ready to step in if any of her things were about to get caught in the crossfire.

Hunk nodded in slight surprise, turning back in time to see Lance tackle Keith.

The shorter boy was instantly at a disadvantage his legs now unable to get traction on the ground as his back was met with Pidge's mattress. He struggled, uselessly flailing his legs as he tried to fend Lance off with his arms.

Lance simply let himself fall on Keith, having his weight do the work for him.

Keith, to his credit, was quite strong despite his slimmer stature, probably due to the endless late-hour training he often partook in. He could pick up and carry Lance, he knew that much from past fights, but without leverage or a better angle, he had to concede.

Pidge and Hunk watched as Keith stopped struggling, Lance awkwardly pumping his fist in victory from his position atop Keith. Said boy only gave a grumpy sigh, then a gentle gasp when Lance dropped onto him again, laying there.

Pidge and Hunk walked over, now certain the scene was safe, sitting down on the bed next to the two boys. Kosmo jumped out of Hunk's arms, padding over to lick at Keith's reddened cheeks, "Ah- Kosmo!" Keith struggled to wrench his arm from under Lance, pushing the "dog's" face away, "-Cut it out!"

Lance laughed at him, the vibration causing a plethora of butterflies to take flight in Keith's stomach.

With Lance flush against him, he could feel the vibrations of his bubbly laugh- where Lance's throat met his collarbone, where their chests met.

He could feel the puff of air Lance expelled with each laugh, the breaths hitting the sensitive skin of his neck - sending shivers down his spine.

Hunk's hearty laughter chimed in, Pidge soon joining too, her snickers ineffectively muffled by her hand. This didn't stop Kosmo however, the hell hound now gently lapping Keith's nose, Keith's hand laying forgotten on its neck.

Keith found himself laughing too, his cheeks flush and face burning in embarrassment. Despite it all, he couldn't find it within himself to be scared of how vulnerable he was in this moment.

No one seemed to notice that he draped an arm around Lance, or care that he slightly (barely even if you were to ask Keith) nuzzled his head against Lance's own.

They were all just a bunch of friends.

Average students.

A squadron of pilots with bright futures.

. . .

After a more comprehensive conversation about Hunk and Pidge's new creation, Rover, Lance had reluctantly pulled himself from Keith. The two had straightened out their wrinkled clothes to the best of their abilities, just thankful to be out of Garrison uniform.

"So......" Pidge trailed, trying to think of a way to propose her idea, "Hunk and I were thinking..."

Lance raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing; patiently awaiting further explanation.

"Since we know we can all see Kosmo, I was thinking we could go to Iverson about all the weird coyotes," she looked out the window towards where she had seen them the night before, "y'know, because we have proof now."

Hunk gave the girl an encouraging smile, "I know he'll probably think we sound crazy, but we have all the evidence we need."

Pidge, having turned away from the window, added, "We could be on the cusp of a great scientific discovery! This could be the start of something amazing - just think!"

Hunk grabbed Pidge's hands excitedly, the two's eyes shinning in some nerd-based enthusiasm, "Imagine," Hunk gestured to a poster Pidge's wall, "We could make it into some scientific journal, then we could get famous, and-"

Keith rolled his eyes at the two, letting his friends geek-out; sure, Kosmo was a bit shy, but Keith knew that this could really help his squad out. He pet behind Kosmo's ear, _I hope you wont mind helping out my friends a bit..._

That was when Lance chimed in, "Yeah! And when we get famous," he grinned, slinging an arm around Keith, "-all the babes are going to want to meet us! You'll have to fight 'em off Keith!"

Keith felt his stomach drop, and tried desperately to suppress the wave of sadness and jealousy that overcame him at those words.

Keith gave a fake smile, offering a weak, "Yeah."

_This is what you get for crushing on your straight friend. This can only end in disappointment._

Pidge, semi-unaware of Keith's current crisis, added a sarcastic, "Yay..." executing half-assed jazz hands to emphasize her next word, "Girls..."

Keith gave a slight laugh at that, alleviating him of some disappointment._ Thanks Pidge..._

Kosmo nuzzled into his hand, as if in sympathy of the boy. Keith felt a genuine smile come to his face. He could get through this.

. . .

It had been a strange afternoon, and the four had gotten numerous judgmental looks from the Garrison staff. After all, they were a bunch of students spending their weekend off _at school._

They had asked all the teachers, visited all the offices, and -_ by Pidge's recommendation_ \- went into the restricted zone of the Garrison. The other three were definitely concerned by how well Pidge had been able to guide them through those foreign hallways.

Keith had eventually opted to carry Kosmo while they ran, the dog's short legs proving inefficient in keeping up with the group.

When all of this had resulted in nothing, they decided to split up; Pidge insisting it was important that they talk to Iverson 'as soon as fuckin possible, guys'.

They all ran blindly down the empty hallways, ignoring the strange looks they got from people.

Keith ran, barely ever looking up from the strange dog in his arms; causing him to barrel into Hunk's open arms, "Try looking up more, man," his patient smile instantly improving Keith's mood, "you'd miss Iverson unless you ran right into him."

Keith rolled his eyes feeling a smile rise to his lips, "Yeah," he huffed sheepishly, "I guess that does make a _little_ more sense."

Hunk released him, caring to check for any prexisting injuries (from his signature brashness), and that he was properly balanced before letting him stand on his own, "I really hope we find Iverson, Pidge would be so disappointed if we-"

That's when an obnoxious ringtone blared from Hunk's pocket, the sound shocking the pair, and echoing loudly in the hallway.

Hunk quickly grabbed for his phone, fumbling slightly, to check the caller, despite knowing who it was deep down.

Keith got a look at the screen, smiling at the artful caller ID, 'Needa AmbuLance'.

Hunk put the call on speaker,

"Hunk!" Lance's voice boomed a little too loudly through the device, cringe inducing, _but_ _endearing_, Keith found, annoying and accidental and _distinctly him,_ "Pidge hacked into the Garrison's security system, he says that Iverson's near Adam's classroom! I'm making my way there now, and I'm gonna call Keith, we're all gonna try to meet up there!"

Hunk and Keith were already moving, "Don't bother calling Keith, we're already on our way!"

"See you there!" was the excited reply.

"Don't wait up Keith!" Hunk shouted, already noticing distance begin to from between them.

That was all Keith needed to hear, he allowed himself to reach full speed, noticing Hunk say something final into his phone before hanging up.

With that, Keith rounded a corner and made his way towards his adoptive brother's boyfriend's classroom - now that was a mouthful.

. . .

Even when sprinting with Kosmo in his arms, he still managed to make good time reaching Iverson.

Slightly out of breath, he he began to slow down, still skidding to a stop before the large man, instantly grabbing his attention. The door had closed behind Iverson, indicating he had just been speaking with Adam, giving Keith the sense that Iverson would hopefully have more patience than usual with him today.

Still though, why did he have to be the first to arrive? He wasn't exactly the one of them with the best track record involving student-teacher interactions.

"You want something, Kogane?" the instructor demanded.

Keith gulped, looked like he wasn't that lucky, "Uh...." Iverson's eyes narrowed at his hesitance, "-here." with that intelligent spiel, Keith held out Kosmo towards the man.

Iverson studied Keith's hands for a second, before crossing his burly arms, "Look kid, I don't know what you think you're pulling here but-" he glared pointedly at the boy, "its not making me laugh."

Keith instantly got defensive, bristling at the man's confrontational attitude - what exactly had Adam said to make him _this _cranky?

"Look sir, I know it may look like a dog but its actually proof of wha-"

Keith was interrupted by the telltale sound of Lance approaching, his long strides echoing down the hallway. Keith jumped at the opportunity to get some support, decisively looking over Iverson's shoulder, awaiting Lance's arrival.

Lance, noticing Keith's need of help, gladly obliged, speeding up in order to reach them faster.

He hoped Pidge would get here soon, it looked as though Keith hadn't exactly buttered up the old man as they'd hoped.

They really shouldn't have let Keith handle the diplomacy-stuff.

Lance came up beside Iverson within seconds, panting and hunched over in exertion.

Keith waited silently for him to say anything to help him out. He could feel himself sweating with nervousness, this was getting really awkward and he didn't exactly know what to say to help fix the whole situation with Kosmo.

Lance, luckily, was there to give a coherent, ".....Dog...........Cool....Very cool..............Space..........."

Keith mentally smacked himself in the face - remind him not to trust Lance to help him out with talking to angry teachers.

Iverson turned on the other boy now, "You too, _huh_, McClain?"

Lance was visually surprised, how had Keith pissed Iverson off _this_ bad?

He frowned disappointedly, "I would've expected better from such a promising student."

Lance reeled back at the insult - damn - he hadn't expected to mess this up that bad. When it was both a compliment and insult you knew you'd messed up.

Lance looked to Keith for help, meeting his empathetic gaze and helping him feel a little better about their current predicament.

They could hold out until the smart-sciency-people arrived.

Iverson continued to glare at the two boys, looking confused and disappointed.

As the pair looked like they were about to get another round of admonishments, the group heard a set of heavy footfalls approach in the hallway.

The two boys reveled in their savior -

_Hunk_ \- arms piled high with all of the scientific equipment they needed to prove their discovery.

They could actually salvage this conversation.

Now all they needed was Pidge, who would swoop in at the very last minute and get their cool discovery published or whatever.

Keith watched Iverson look at the newcomer in curiosity, now maybe mildly interested in what the boys had to say, "Garret, whats with all of this?"

Hunk, naturally, was out of breath, and took his time regaining his composure; however, he never got to respond, as Pidge noiselessly burst into the circle.

Now Iverson was intrigued, or maybe he was livid - _damn, __it was really hard to read this man._

Pidge's footfalls had been stealthy, allowing her sudden entrance to draw everyone's attention.

Iverson raised an eyebrow at this, "You as well Gunderson?" he shook his head, "So Kogane decided to get you all involved - hope you all think this is worth it."

Pidge raised her eyebrows in surprise, _what had these idiots done now?_

"Look sir," Pidge tried her best to mediate, "I can explain. You see-"

Iverson shook his head, not hearing it, "Look, I don't see how you boys think this is funny, but I hope your happy with the result," he gestured around, "I hope this is worth the punishment."

Pidge's eyes widened, "Please, you must understand, sir, this not a pet dog," she looked over apologetically at Kosmo, trying to compel the dog to understand she didn't mean it, "this is scientific evidence of my theory reguardin-"

This was it for the commander, "Look kids," he placed his hand on his temple, rubbing it in frustration, "i don't know why you all care about this foolish prank so badly, but I simply do not have enough time to put up with invisible dogs today. I'll let you off easy today, just please stop interrupting me when I'm trying to finish my day's work."

The flight squadron instantly met eyes in confusion, what did he mean invisible dog?

"Sir," Pidge pressed timidly, "please, we don't understand."

Iverson turned impatiently at the cadet.

She gestured at Kosmo, who sat comfortably in Keith's arms, "Do you really-" she paused, suddenly scared of the answer "-not see the dog?"

Iverson placed his hand on the panel of Adams door, opening it and gesturing for them to enter, "Please sit down in here," he sighed, strangely more grounded than he had been earlier in the conversation, "I am going to decide what I see a fit punishment is for you infraction today."

"That's a no then?" Lance added.

"No," he responded impatiently, as Hunk filed in after his teammates, "I cannot see this 'dog'."

Adam looked up from his papers at the commotion, surprised to Keith and his friends here.

He looked at them all with thinly veiled amusement.

That is, until his eyes drifted to Keith.

Adam went pale, eyes widening and back straightening as he stood up, hand reaching below his desk.

Iverson took his sudden rising as a sign off attention, he turned to the teacher, "Please watch over these four while I go and consult with Shiro. They have _insisted_ on pulling a stupid prank on me, and I am done with all of their behavior."

He then turned on the cadets, "Kogane, I thought you rebellious, not petty. And the rest of you, going along with him - and for what? I guess I could see something this immature from McClain, but your two - _you_ _all_ \- I expected more maturity from all of you."

With that, he strode out the door, off to find Shiro.

As soon as he was out to the door Keith started, "Look Adam, you need to understand-"

Adam didn't hesitate pulling his blade out from underneath his desk now, the celestial bronze blade gleaming in the florescent lighting.

Kosmo shrunk back in Keith arms, whimpering - the cadets shocked silent.

"Keith," Adam kept his voice level despite his concern for the students, "put the hell hound down."

. . .

Word Count: 2940

Published : 8/25/19


	5. Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teammates run into a predicament, and Pidge helps the team ACE a test ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the writing in this chapter is strange or in cohesive, this is a lil bit rushed cuz we hAtE sChoOL in this house.

For a semi-peaceful moment, everyone was silent; all students' gazes transfixed on the shinning blade Adam had drawn on them.

Then, the room erupted into noise.

"Adam!" Keith drew Kosmo deeper into his arms, "What the _actual_ fuck?"

Lance simply gaped at the blade, eyes wide and dumbstruck, and continued to wonder what random chain of events could've possibly led him to this point in his life.

Hunk had initially bristled at the revealing of the blade, and, unfreezing at Keith's remark, added a panicked, "WhAT?!"

Pidge stared at the blade with continued indifference, eyes widening as her thoughts started to catch up after her shock. Drawing her curious eyes away from the blade, she stepped forward, meeting Adam's surprised look to ask, "So, you can see it?"

Adam walked out from behind his desk now, the cadets' questioning voices all melding into one another.

He lowered his blade slightly, looking at Keith imploringly. His expression barely masked his concern and utter confusion.

_"Keith," _Adam spoke much more sternly than the first time, _"Put it down."_

_"So what?!" _A sudden wave of righteous anger flooded him, _"You can kill him?"_

_"You named it?" _Adam's pronunciations were better than normal, not that Keith had the capacity to acknowledge that now, _"Zeus - we're fucked."_

_"What do you mean 'we're fucked'? Adam, please, you aren't making any sense." _Keith pleaded, trying to stay calm, _please let Kosmo know that I'll protect him,_ _"If you explain things we can sort this all out."_

Adam paused contemplatively, a sign Keith knew meant that the man was mulling over the most effective way to explain what was going on. 

The silence was beginning to stress him out a little, causing Keith to add a helpful,_ "Look, I don't know why you think he will, but Kosmo is really nice, he would never hurt any of us. And he's had plenty of chances to."_

_"Even if this one likes you, the other ones wont be as nice."_

_"Spouting cryptic bs isn't helping us get anywhere, Adam." _Keith nervously eyed his friends, who seemed to be lost in trying to track the conversation,_ "Please, work with me here?!"_

It was at this very opportune moment that Shiro decided to enter, in the midst of saying something to Iverson, which by the sounds of things was going a lot better than the cadets had managed.

His eyes were clearly tired, concerningly so; but his face was patient, ready to hear more about the trouble the squad had gotten into. 

When he laid his eyes on the scene before him, that was all washed away, instead slightly gaping in a look of utter confusion and panic. 

Iverson soon filed in through the doorway behind him, allowing Adam enough time to stash his blade out of sight. Not that he really needed to anyway, it wasn't like he'd be able to see it clearly through the mist, maybe not at all, like Kosmo. They probably had Allura's numerous charms to thank for that.

Shiro took a long, almost disbelieving glance at Kosmo. Then another, more questioning glance at Adam.

Said teacher was not amused, and somehow now looked as tired as his boyfriend, giving a resigning sigh and shrugging his shoulders.

Pidge took the chance to nudge Keith, whispering, "So.... Did you win that or....?"

"I honestly have no idea."

"Very reassuring."

Iverson, not seeming to notice the tension in the room, continued where he left off, "I was wondering what disciplinary measures you think would be best. I figured your impartial input would help, and that you'd know what what's best for a scenario like this."

The cadets snapped their heads to attention, the man seemed to be in a better mood now, and they were going to make the most of it. He seemed to notice the gesture, which would hopefully help them avoid any further resentment from the commander.

"Yeah," Shiro's face instantly became controlled, turning back to his superior, "I think I have something appropriate in mind. You're tying up the ends in the newest hostiles simulator, right?" Iverson nodded in agreement, "Since they were disrupting you from finishing with your work for the day, I think they could rectify that by doing a test run."

Hunk winced, "This - um, Sir," he paused, bashfully, "this isn't, like,_ a prototype,_ right?"

Pidge grimaced at the memory of the last time they had omitted their - _now obligatory_ \- safety tests.

Lance tried his hardest to form what he hoped was a charming smile, "Where's the fun without a little danger?"

Keith rolled his eyes at the boy, but Iverson did not seem bothered by Lance's addition. Mainly indifferent, but maybe that meant he liked it.

"It's just a different drill we're programming in the simulator." Iverson clarified, further proving how the man had calmed, "It would be entirely, safe, we've done the route with dummies, but we would just want the feedback. How

'bout this - do well and I'll let you get off the hook. What do you think?"

Iverson shot the kids a gruff grin, in stark contrast to hos he had been only minutes earlier.

_Damn this man was weird - and hard to read._

The cadets met eyes, forming a small huddle before debating their options.

Their average score wasn't exactly Iverson's definition of 'well', usually because of the fact that Lance and Keith were not the _absolute greatest_ co-pilots. This meaning that they often had different opinions on very important aspects of flight paths during the actual flights. They had recently been getting better in the simulation, the boys arguing a lot less in the cockpit. It also helped that they were entering hostile training, which led to Lance manning the guns and therefore ergoing all lapses in pilot agreement.

The boys looked to Pidge, who was unanimously considered the smartest out of all of them.

Looks like this was her decision to make.

"Whats the alternative Sir?"

Iverson shrugged, "Something traditional, detention maybe?"

"And what day would that be?"

"Today."

"What happens if we don't do well in the simulation?"

"We'll have you do all other required trials our design team needs to get done."

"And how long would that take?"

"About as long as the detention."

Pidge took a pregnant pause, debating the options and calculating probabilities of success or whatever other smart people things you do to make good, impartial decisions.

"We'll do the simulator then."

. . .

Overall, this was definitely a better decision, they all agreed, as they geared up quickly in the changing room.

Lance frowned, he had been really excited to get out of uniform for the weekend, but here they were again.

Kosmo sat obediently at Keith's feet, the boy himself already changing. 

Lance gently nudged the dog over with his foot, moving to grab his suit from his locker, "Why do we have to wear _these_ for testing?"

Keith rolled his eyes at the Cuban's whining, halfway through pulling his trousers on, after all, beggars couldn't be choosers - they had been lucky Shiro had managed to calm Iverson down.

"The Garrison suits provided the vitals and neurological stimulus of cadets while they train so-"

"Okay-okay," Lance chuckled, knocking Keith jokingly with his hip as he pulled on the top half of his suit, "jeez Pidge."

Her scoff could be heard from the other side of the lockers, they boys not being able to see the snarky scrunching of her features as she retorted, "Should've been changing instead of asking dumb questions."

Hunk sat down on the bench, pulling on his boots, surprisingly the furthest along of any of them, "So... Strategy wise we are-?"

"Going to be fine, Hunk." Pidge finished, cutting the boy's worries short, "I have everything worked out, we just have to do what we always do and we'll be fine. _Promise_."

She took a pause, quickly shuffling into her top and zipping everything closed. It was definitely a bit awkward changing on the other side of the lockers from her friends, but none of them ever brought it up. They probably thought 'he' was just embarrassed, and it made her feel better that they never made fun of her for it, unlike Griffin had. She could still remember his condescending sneer,

_'You don't have to be embarrassed changing in front of other boys, prude.'_

Keith had really gotten him bad for that comment, and they had silently agreed to never bring it up again. She really appreciated him for standing up for her like that.

It wasn't like she didn't trust them not to be awkward about it themselves, its just that she had to hide her stupid bra.

Iverson had been right, _There were actual consequences for hacking into Garrison databases._

"I really hope they don't start us off with a damaged turbine again," Hunk piped up, now ready to go and waiting on the other two boys, "that was just cruel - I mean, how do they expect us to be up in the air within three if they start us off like that?"

Pidge grabbed up her stuff, piling it messily into her locker before slamming it shut. She rounded the corner, coming to sit next to Hunk, "You managed excellently for the circumstances," She bumped him with her shoulder, "don't beat yourself up, we were still up in the air fastest of anyone, the time limit was just _wack_."

Lance was still topless, having abandoned the task at hand in favor of annoying Keith and trying to put his clothes away, struggling to stuff all of his clothes into his overly-crowded locker.

Keith was still, as if stuck in time, arms frozen in the sleeves of his jumper, just standing there. Still trying to process the fact that Lance's _bare torso_ had touched his own.

"Awww, thanks Pidge!"

"Of course buddy." She kicked Keith, trying to draw his attention, "C'mon Keith, keep it coming, wee're trying to get this done _today_."

That comment effectively pulled him from his stupor, the boy reanimating to finish pulling the ugly jumpsuit on, boots and all, in a matter of seconds, making up for his lost time.

Hunk started again, just to debrief slightly in order to feel a little more prepared, "So, Keith piloting and Lance shooting." he took a rushed breath, a small sign to those around him that he was getting nervous a again, "You're going to be on nav and-"

Pidge placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him again, "I'll help you get everything running at the start, okay?" She tried her best to word this as eloquently as possible, in order to better calm the larger boy, "Even if nav's down a the start - its not that hard to bring online anyway."

Hunk nodded, more surely than before, taking a deep breath, "Yeah, yeah this is going to be _fine_."

Pidge looked over at the other two, they couldn't afford to take much longer and ruin Iverson's mood.

Keith, all prior Lance-trance embarrassment gone, was now helping the boy shove blue and olive mass of fabric into his locker. How he managed to keep so many things in his locker, she had no idea.

On the count of three, Lance threw himself at the clump, (he had taken a running start), pulling back in an instant to allow Keith to throw the door shut, leaning against the metal heavily in the aftermath. He looked as if he had just survived in a horror movie. Panting ever so slightly, leaning with all of his weight like his life depended on it - a little over-dramatic if you asked her - as if to keep out a murderer pounding at the other side of the door. 

"Lance," Pidge felt as though she was the only one keeping them all on track at this point, "hurry up. We don't want to keep them waiting."

"Yes chef."

The comment earned a scoff of betrayal from Hunk, and was followed by Lance furiously throwing on his boots and running out - still zipping up the uniform.

The rest of them followed, laughing at his antics and feeling a lot lighter than they should for the upcoming exam.

Pidge had been the one who had gotten them and trouble, and so help her, she was going to get them out of this too! They were going to _ace_ this test.

. . .

After the kids had rushed off to the locker room, Iverson had taken up a more leisurely pace walking to the observation deck. Shiro and Adam came to his side, filling the strangely desolate hallway. 

"So sir," Shiro continued, "did our request for leave go through?"

Iverson smiled at them, "Yes, everything checked out with Sam and Colleen. They said you had already contacted them about the lesson plans you were considering."

"Thank you, sir." Adam chimed in, "We really appreciate you letting them sub-in for us." he slipped his hand into Shiro's, "This really means a lot to us."

"Of course, you have done a lot the bring kids into the program. Plus you already worked everything out with them, so there was really nothing to do on my part. Have fun for us here, won't ya?"

"Yes sir." Shiro gave a salute, opening the door for Iverson and following Adam in.

The observation deck was filled with screens, the lighting dim, and the programming team gave their salutes before going back to interpreting biometric scans and preparing the simulation test. The two teachers proceeded to the window overlooking the small mock vessel in the room below them, watching as the cadets entered the small room.

Keith looked up at them, offering up a hand in a friendly wave, his other hand occupied holding Kosmo.

They waved back, before the boy turned and ran to catch up with his friends. The two smiled adoringly at how they had turned to wait for him, Lance even having hung back for him. When Keith finally got within range, he slung a lanky arm around his shoulders, beginning to talk about something they couldn't hear.

Shiro turned to Adam incredulously, "He really named it?"

"Yep.

If they had been alone, he definitely would've slapped his face loud enough to shatter all the windows in their apartment, "We are _so_ doomed."

"A good bit fucked, yes."

"Why do you always have to be like this when things get shitty?"

"You find it funny."

Shiro turned away, rolling his eyes but not denying the accusation, "Whatever."

"I think he's friendly, and the kids all vouch for him-"

"Adam!" Shiro's whispering became hissed, "You can't agree with them! Otherwise there is _no_ way that we are going to be able to deny keeping Kosmo."

"Whatever," Adam's bony hip swung into his, "at this point we cant undo what has already been started by this, let's keep the dog and bolt."

"I guess this wasn't _all_ bad." Shiro conceded.

"Yeah, now we have confirmation that they all can at least see through the mist, less detective work for us now."

"Should we take them tonight?"

"Yes, now that we know why they're circling, time is of the essence - even more than before. We have to get them out of here before things have the chance to escalate."

"Lets hope that they get out of this early then."

Adam gasped, playfully knocking shoulders with him, "You doubt them?"

Shiro rolled his eyes, pushing him away.

. . .

As soon as the consoles lit up, the team sprung into action.

Hunks's worst fears had been topped withing seconds, as an entire panel on the right side of the ship began to spark violently. 

Luckily the only things he needed to fix were cabin pressurization and a plethora of electrical systems which had decided now was a good time to act up.

Luckily, this did now impede Lance and Keith's duties, the two carrying on into order to get them in air on time.

Keith ran through ship diagnostics to their 'control tower', prepping them to quickly take flight.

Lance was watching their artificial perimeter, and while there were still relatively few enemies, he managed to make a spectacle of his sniping to Keith, which could be heard in the background of his transmissions to the observation deck.

(Shiro resisted his urge to burst out laughing, Adam, his urge to slap himself).

Pidge, luckily, was stationed near Hunk. She handed his tools right as he asked for them, sometimes preemptively too, the two making a well oiled machine.

She managed to type one-handed, and fairly proficiently - if she may add, bringing the navigation system online and plotting a course to their destination.

"Socket wrench please."

Socket wrench.

"Electrical tape."

Electrical tape.

"Pl-"

Pliers.

"Course through asteroid belt or-"

A more open-to-attack route through open space, a lot easier on the pilot.

Keith looked back from his displays for a moment, "-Whatever will be easier on Lance."

Asteroids.

"Who said I wouldn't want a challenge?" Shots sounded from the ship's higher power canon now.

Definitely asteroids.

"We don't need a repeat of last time Lance." Keith muted the coms, "None of us had fun getting swarmed by space-mites."

"Can I have-?"

Screwdriver.

Pidge swiveled in her chair, entering the course plan and readying her line of communication with the tower and prepping her live translators - _just in case._

"Guys - we are gonna need to leave soon." Lance's shots were becoming more and more frequent.

Keith had finished his rundown of systems, and had taken over the secondary defenses station in effort to help Lance, "Yeah - a huge group of hostiles seem to be coming our way."

Pidge looked at her map, seeing the cluster on her readings, "Craft to tower, we are seeing a large flight of hostile lifeforms heading our way, we are preparing for takeoff now."

Keith scrambled back to his station, belting himself securely in before flipping a few switches and taking hold of the controls.

After helping Hunk connect to a safety harness, she strapped herself into her own seat, announcing, "Taking off now."

The ship shot off the ground, towards the asteroid belt they were going to navigate through to the secure base a few planets away.

"Keith," Pidge didn't take her eyes off the screen, "approach to the left of the main vein, you can squeeze through the larger masses and loose some of our tail."

"Roger."

The ship adjusted course, still heading forward quickly, with instinctual excellence. Keith was, after all, the “greatest pilot of his generation”.

(Truly following in Shiro’s footsteps, wasn’t he?)

When the ship finally left the atmosphere, the creatures dissipated, but not before being decimated by Lance's aim. They were soon replaced, however, by an armada of foreign vessels.

Pidge began to get miscellaneous transmissions that her programs were struggling to interpret.

"Lance," Pidge highlighted a portion of their tail on her readout, marking them in his viewfinder, "When we enter the belt, it will be narrow, if you shoot the asteroids the debris will damage the hostiles that follow us through."

"I'll be ready, Pidge."

Pidge unmuted her com, "We are now nearing the asteroid belt. Attempting to lose the attention of hostiles on our six."

Pushing out her legs, her chair slid across the floor of the cockpit to the other side, locking into place. She pulled up her display at her new station, handing Hunk the tool he had been about to ask for from the toolbox on her lap.

The boy was now working on a different panel, which corresponded to the ships's hull defense. Speaking of,

"Ship hull integrity at 97%. We are approaching the base 46% faster than predicted. Will be arriving in around two minutes."

She figured she'd add that in to show just how well they were doing. Just in case things decided to go south later.

Hunk held out a hand to her, and she gave him the wire strippers he needed.

"Lance," The first strategy worked, now for the approach on the base, "we are nearing the end of the belt. There's a whole formation gaining on the left. Shoot some debris off at them and we'll be able to safely make the final stretch to the base."

"Hear that Keith?" Lance expertly shot another creature from in between the moving masses of rock, "We've got a tail on the left."

"Got it."

Pidge traded Hunk's wire strippers for cutters, watching her current data come in, the ships were advancing quickly on them.

Keith boosted out from the cover of the belt, leaving the entire team entirely trusting in Lance to give them the clean break that they needed. 

He did not disappoint, the ships tailing them being effectively perturbed by the shrapnel expelled from the rocks Lance shot.

Pidge watched as they gained a lead on the ships, making a beeline for the bay doors opening in the base below them.

"Lance!" Keith shouted, "Nine!"

Lance needed no further clarification, adeptly sniping the two creatures that had been on course to intercept them on their path to their landing.

With that final save, Keith swiftly landed their ship, barely even slowing down as he pulled the vessel in for touchdown, the bay doors sliding shut behind them.

Hunk was instantly relieved, and was - _remarkably_ \- not as shaken as he should be - given that he had been bouncing around and repairing the ship during their flight.

With that, the consoles shut off, and the artificial surroundings faded away.

They all sat in silence for a moment, the dark leaving them alone with their excited heartbeats.

And then the cockpit erupted in excited laughter.

Their joyous group hug was interrupted by a transmission from the observation deck.

"Nice teamwork cadets. I'm-" Iverson paused thoughtfully, "-I'm thoroughly impressed. That is all we will need for today. Good performance. I will meet you down there in a moment."

With that praise, the team rushed out of the ship, in time to meet Shiro and Adam, who had ran down to meet them. Kosmo trailed at their feet. _He makes friends fast apparently._

"Nice work you guys!" Shiro shouted across the empty floor.

"You exceeded all expected parameters!" Adam added, bolstering their feeling of success.

Iverson then joined them , the man walking through The door and into the large, white room.

Lance instantly puffed with pride, throwing his arms around his teammates and pulling them to his sides. He practically radiated joy. They all smiled in turn, its impossible not to feel happy when Lance was happy.

"Iverson!" Lance's voice was loud, almost too much - as per his charming usual, "Did you see us out there? We were amazing! I think that merits some kind of reward, don't you think?" he laughed.

The man's face seemed to shift, but not in the unhappy way the cadets were expecting from Lance's informal language. He instead _smiled -_ very out of character - before _agreeing,_ "Excellent work today, your teamwork was exemplary. Thank you for your help with testing this." He barely seemed to consider the thought before adding, "The next time you get into trouble, I'll let it slide. Don't waste that, its a powerful favor."

With that, he turned and left, leaving the cadets bewildered and the teachers impressed.

Well,_ that had been incredibly out of character._

. . .

**Published: 9/24/19**

**Word Count: 3740**


	6. Only Take What You Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they finally leave the Garrison and get to see whether their favor from Iverson extends to prolonged absences from school.

They all gaped after the man, slightly - scratch that -  _ extremely _ flabbergasted by the commander's praise of their performance. 

He wasn't one to commend any teams on their runs in the simulator - even Griffin's, (Keith's more obedient counterpart). And Iverson was more than partial to that perfect little prodigy. 

The fact that he had outright praised their work - thanked them for their assistance in testing,  _ and _ offered them a favor. Was he ok? 

"Someone should check on him," Pidge's sarcasm followed his exit, earning a small, distracted chuckle for the group, "I really don't think he's ok."

"Yeah..." Lance trailed, arms slackening and sliding off the team's shoulders. He seemed to deflate slightly, but not in a sad way, Keith consoled himself, just tired. His shoulder felt cold after Lance let his arm drop. 

He hated himself for being so hung up on these little things.

"So..." Keith started, looking down at Kosmo, trotting around Adam's feet adorably, "You work things out or...?"

Adam narrowed his eyes at the boy, turning with Shiro towards the door,  _ "Keith - I swear - don't start with me." _

The syllables were fumbled and clearly foreign on his tongue, and Keith found himself smiling - Adam was getting more fluent.

Now Keith kinda wanted to test him. 

Shiro laughed and bumped his shoulder, and Keith figured he could let Adam’s offense slide  _ this once. _

Kosmo trailed behind them, turning back to look at his boy smugly, if that was even possible for a hellhound. He trotted out after his brother -  _ the betrayal. _

The cadets stood frozen, watching the group leave. The automated door slid open, and they paused, turning back,  _ "Come on, we've got stuff to do." _

Keith unfroze for a second, before following, all hesitance gone. 

Something weird was happening, and Shiro and Adam knew what was going on. Doing what they said had always been the best tactic before, so there was no point in stopping now. He couldn’t find an ounce of doubt in them, so he decided to comply.

Keith was halfway to the door when Lance decided to catch up, Shiro and Adam were walking again, not waiting up. Pidge and Hunk trailed behind skeptically, though, what they had to be skeptic of was unclear; but it seemed that all the teenagers were perfectly comfortable following the adults blindly despite the whole sword fiasco. So that was  _ something _ .

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Keith started, feeling Lance's arm brush against his, "I'll take the lecture and catch you guys up later. Y'all need to change anyway."

"Awwwww, Keith~!" a boop on his nose - the arm was back, slung around his shoulder, casually, as if it was nothing,  _ again _ . "You don't need to do this alone - no biggie! Besides, we're in this together - Adam did pull a knife on  _ all _ of us, after all."

_ "We’ve got to hurry guys - I know our urgency seems misplaced but we really don't have a lot of time." _

_ “You know I’m the only one of us who can understand what you just said, right?”  _ Adam huffed, before repeating it in English, more somber than the first time.

The cadets sped up in return.

"Jeez Adam, you make everything sound so serious-" 

Keith winced, he could hear Adam's affectionate, very much annoyed smack from around the bend in the hallway. 

"So..." Lance's voice was directly in his ear now, the boy leaning down towards him, Keith stared pointedly to their left - he was  _ too _ close, "You interested in explaining what's happening, or...?"

Keith sighed, raising a hand to rub at his face, " _ Honestly _ , I have no idea what's going on either."

Pidge appeared on his left, catching his averted gaze, "Y'know it's rude to talk in a language that not everyone understands, right?"

"That really a thing?" Keith couldn't thank her enough for showing up now - not that he didn't like the attention - but Lance's oblivious hetero-ass needed to get out of his space, for his sanity.

Pidge shrugged indifferently, the corner of her mouth raising minutely, "You think they're trying to keep whatever's happening lowkey with all the Japanese or what?"

It was Keith's turn to shrug, Lance's arm impeding his attempt slightly, but Pidge found it endearing all the same,  _ they were cute _ , "I mean,  _ maybe? _ I mean, probably for everyone else on campus - but I'd really appreciate a quick little rundown of what the ever-loving fuck is going on right now. Like, just pull us aside, something concise and to the point - they’d just have to keep their voices down. I don't know - I just feel like they have a ton of better options right now than just leading us on blindly."

"Yeah, their customer service is terrible."

"Tell me about it - like all it would take is something simple - quick explanation in English, and then we can do whatever!" Hunk piped in, tailing the group by a few steps, ever timid. Not that it wasn't justified, Adam had just pulled a blade out on them, "Not that I don't trust them entirely, but like..."

"..you don't trust them entirely." Pidge supplied, grinning fiendishly.

"I mean," Hunk gestured wildly, "the SWorD?"

"The man has a point, Keithy-boy," Keith was once again reminded of Lance's proximity by his comically loud whisper right next to him, "I mean, first he whips out a blade at Kosmo and now they're best buds?  _ Wack _ ."

"Look guys," Keith stopped walking, ducking out from under Lance's arm and nearly colliding with Hunk in his sudden motion, "you shouldn't have to blindly trust them for me, just go change. I'll sort everything out and we can meet up after."

Lance crossed his newly freed arms, "No way are we letting you go around looking like an idiot and taking whatever-the-fuck Shiro and Adam are on."

He mimed taking a drag from a joint and his eyes roamed the outfit scornfully, and Keith couldn't help but flush under the attention, not that Lance took any notice of the effects of is actions -  _ as if he ever did. _

"Guys I'll be quick an-"

Hunk's hand on his shoulder stopped him mid-sentence, Pidge ending his futile argumentation with a simple, "Don't be like that Keith - there's  _ no way _ we're going to let you go around looking like an idiot alone man, squad goals -  _ am I right? _ "

Keith sighed resignedly, giving a simple shrug and looking back at Hunk thankfully, feeling reassured in his choice to trust Shiro and Adam. 

After all,  _ they were all he had _ . He owed the entirety of his life here to them, this second chance - this was all their doing. Without them, he'd still be sleeping school, half-learning mundane subjects, without a real family off his own. If they could put their trust in a troublemaker like him, he could trust his brother and his sword-happy boyfriend. 

His friends trusted him too. Hunk's hand on his shoulder proved that.

Keith allowed himself a moment to reign in his rampant adoration for his friends, not caring that they were being left behind by his brother.

Pidge smiled at the scene, before turning to Lance, who was staring at the pair, at a particular pilot really,  _ breathlessly fond _ \- He was really gone with Keith and he didn't even know it.

She turned, beckoning them forward again, Shiro and Adam's silhouettes looming impatiently at the end of the hallway.

Shiro and Adam had stopped in front of their dorms, the latter looking as though he was stuck between being amused or annoyed at whatever the other had said.

The cadets paused in front of them, waiting for some form of instruction, or maybe another surprise weapon, Pidge's mind supplied,  _ Maybe a machete this time, mix it up a little? _

Not that she really thought the adults were going to threaten them with a switchblade or anything, but after the whole Kosmo-Adam altercation she had weapons on the brain.

Shiro placed his hand on the keypad, opening up the door to her room, "I know this is probably going to sound weird, but we need you to trust us," Shiro smiled at her sympathetically, "grab everything you could possibly need - we need to get you out of here. We're leaving today."

At this, she could feel all gazes turn to her, awaiting her, _ hopefully rational _ , decision. Pushing that to the back of her mind, she shrugged, and entered into her room, grabbing her backpack and dumping it out on her bed. She could feel the bewildered stares of the boys drilling into her back - they probably hadn't expected her to trust them so simply - but their questioning could wait, "Go on, guys, we’ve gotta be quick about this."

Adam promptly led the boys onward into the dorm next-door, out of sight.

She now needed to make some important decisions about what to take with her, causing her to place a few items back in the pockets. After emptying it - except for her important science junk,  _ she needed that _ \- she went to her wardrobe, though there wasn't much that was crucial in here,  _ she really didn't feel like dragging around Garrison uniforms. _

Shiro's presence still hadn't left the doorway, so she paused in her mission, there wasn't anything incredibly incriminating in her closet at a glance - just a small collection of shorts and shirts - but she doubted that she could stuff a bra into her bag fast enough for him not to notice.

She looked back at him questioningly, earning the group further clarification about what to pack, "Everything you deem non-essential can be shipped to us later by the Holts, they're going to be filling in for us, and they'll make sure no one steals your junk. Grab whatever you think you need and leave the rest."

He gave her a knowing smile, and with that, he vacated the doorway and left down the hall with Adam and Keith, leaving her alone with her thoughts and a half tech-stuffed backpack,  _ alone and questioning why her parents hadn't mentioned to her that she would be coming. _

Maybe it was the same reason that they hadn’t told her about Matt’s disappearance right away, or how she had neglected to tell them that Katie Holt was banned from the Garrison premises for hacking into the security system for information on his disappearance, or how she hadn’t known how to tell them that she was now studying again under an alias.

_ Did they know that already? Did Shiro know that already? _

Given that he was close with her family, that was beginning to seem like a more definite  _ yes _ .

**. . .**

Lance and Hunk were well on their way into packing up their stuff - it wasn't much. Though Hunk insisted on lugging along his tool set  _ and _ his clothes, (and a few inventions).

Which meant that he had been taking  _ all _ of them, until Lance came in and made him leave everything that would not be helpful on their excursion into the unknown.

While Hunk was sorting that out, Lance went through his (sadly small) closet, which only really consisted of the clothes he had stuffed in his locker, along with a pair of (too big?) basketball shorts, a (definitely too big) hoodie, a random assortment of mismatched socks and boxers (strewn so randomly that it would put a college dorm to shame), and a souvenir tank (from Varadero beach).

After stuffing that into his backpack, he then turned to the various sentimental items from his family. 

His newly returned binoculars (from Veronica), a tourist-y map of Cuba (snagged by Luis before Lance had left on his scholarship), small letters (particularly from his parents, wishing him well), adorable little drawings from those notes (done by nieces and nephews he hadn't had a chance to meet in person yet), a signed photo of Rachel (in case she becomes famous or something!), and various jerseys from different sports teams he and his siblings had played on (Marco's were all too big for him to wear un-ironically).

He was going to have trouble choosing what he would have to be without for a while.

**. . .**

Keith was able to pack quite quickly, considering that he had no personal belongings besides the clothes he left in the changing room (he would need to later retrieve his precious racing jacket), the knife currently strapped on the belt at his hip, and the various hand-me-downs he had acquired from Adam and Shiro over the past months.

Although he would've been perfectly fine wearing his clothes out and into the unknown, he decided to push a hoodie and some shorts (for pjs) along with some spare underwear (in case he felt like shitting himself later) down into his backpack, just to feel like he had some belongings.

With that, he went back to his friends, to offer the extra room in his bag to them - he wouldn't be needing it anyway.

**. . .**

By the time he arrived, Pidge had managed to pack in a few extra pads into her backpack, barely managing to close the zipper - needless to say, her bag was bursting at the seams with various inventions and data collectors and whatnot.

Hunk's bulky metal toolbox had been neatly stacked atop his duffel, which was filled with his clothes, along with a plethora of inventions, in varying degrees of completion. 

Lance's backpack was a bursting mess, filled with absolutely no clothes (as Keith had half expected), Pidge's switch (along with the corresponding games), an _actual_ _fucking basketball_, and a robotic prototype of the legend itself, Rover. 

Keith just handed his pack over, helping Lance stuff his clothes in, trying to ignore the fact that something didn’t smell too great, (Keith was just begging that it wasn't the boxers).

Just as they were about to make their final rounds to ensure they hadn't forgotten anything, Adam and Shiro came by with their duffel bags, one which was lumpy with clothes, and another concealing weapons. 

Well - more like  _ poorly _ concealing - as the reason Hunk was able to deduce the contents of the bag was the, "HuGe-AsS-sWoRd!" sticking out from the zipper. 

They stopped their checking, and dragged their bags down to the van waiting outside - one of the nicer of the Garrison's fleet. The trunk was barely able to accommodate all their bags, but that meant the inside of the car was all the more spacious, the middle row consisting of two individual seats (absolute luxury), the back row managing to be less cramped than usual.

Pidge had insisted that she have a few essentials for the unknown duration of the ride, and therefore the middle seats were stacked with her laptop, switch, various important looking tools, and, of course, Rover (the robot of the hour).

With that done, and the trunk door barely managing to close, Shiro and Adam went back inside to finalize their trip with Iverson, albeit withholding the fact that they were taking four students, and make one last call to Colleen and Sam.

The cadets went directly to the locker room, luxuriating in the freedom from Garrison uniforms and changing into their clothes, the clothes that they would be wearing until they made it to camp, (not that they knew that now).

Slipping on his signature jacket, Keith finished changing right after Pidge, and joined her in going to her room to make sure she had packed everything she wanted.

Soon after, Hunk and Lance were checking their room for missed items, and Keith left to join them, leaving Pidge the perfect chance to leave a letter for her parents.

She was rifling through her drawers for a pen when the hellhound crashed through her window.

Ironic, given she had just been considering closing that window before she left. 

Had she done it a little sooner, she might not be trapped under a mountain of shadow-coyote-ness.

The wolf-like creature pinned her to the ground, it's heavy paw pressing her shoulder to the floor. She struggled, but it was simply too massive, at least three times as big as her and  _ much _ too large for her to push off. 

Her hands grasped at the dark fur, trying in vain to displace the giant paw and escape. Using what little breath was not being blocked by the weight of the hellhound, she let out a pathetic shout, the commotion from her fall already having gotten the boys’ attention. 

Within seconds, Keith’s blade had found its way from his belt and into the shoulder of the beast.

Said creature roared with pain, shifting off of Pidge, but not before leaving a substantial mark - its claws had dug into her shoulder, leaving three bloody trails in their wake.

She laid on the ground in shock, the stinging, once faint, now coming in full force.

The hellhound limped its way to the corner, the blade still protruding from its shoulder. Keith pressed forward cautiously, now realizing that impaling the beast and leaving it there had not been his  _ greatest idea ever. _

Lance and Hunk watched from the doorway, frozen in panic and confusion of what to do next.

Lance desperately wished for his rifle, his marksmanship was one of the only things he was truly confident in, and in this moment some kind of - _any_ kind of weapon would be useful right now. Could keep Pidge from getting hurt more - could keep _Keith_ _safe_.

Then, a scent that was engraved in Lance’s mind invaded his panicked mind. The scent of the ocean, but more than that - the salty ocean spray of the waves he used to surf back in Varadero. A scent he  _ knew _ didn’t belong in the middle of a Texan desert.

And just as quickly as the scent had pervaded his nose, it left him again, but now, his mind was clear, and the pocket of his jacket full.

Purely on some strange instinct, Lance lunged forward, drawing something from his pocket and swinging his arms clumsily at the intruder. Though not practiced and efficient like one of Keith’s strikes, it performed its intended purpose, and the monster dissipated into the shadows of the room with a pained growl, Keith’s blade dropping to the floor.

The room went silent except for Pidge’s labored breathing as they all looked at the strange new blade in Lance’s grasp, gleaming in the fading light. 

Hunk was the first to unfreeze, quickly dropping down next to Pidge, who was clutching her shoulder, eyes switching between wide with panic to clenched shut in pain, as if not able to decide which was more important. 

“Oh please no...” Hunk’s voice was soft, and that alone was scary for the boys, not anxious quiet or kindly gentle, but _softly_ _scared_, “Pidge what do we do?”

Pidge struggled to pull her hands away from where they kept a white-knuckled-grip on her cuts, letting Hunk take a look. He let her squeeze at his hands in a pitiful substitution, tightening whenever a new wave of pain washed over her; nevertheless, remaining strong, not giving in to the consuming want to clutch at her would and squeeze the pain away (not that it would work anyway).

“Let’s just get out of here,” Her voice was breathy and strained when it came out, but it still maintained a knowledgeable wisdom to it that gave the boys reassurance, “we have med kits in the car.”

Hunk didn’t need to hear anything else, within seconds Pidge was gathered up into his arms and they were running down the halls to get to the lot where all the vehicles were kept. Keith and Lance soon overtook him, leading the way and opening doors for him as he carried Pidge’s scarily still body through the echoing corridors. 

Despite running being his least favorite activity in the entire world, he pushed on, even using some of his sparse breath to give short, huffed reassurances to Pidge as he rushed to the vans.

Outside, Shiro and Adam were watching as the sun outside continued to lower in the sky, abnormally early. Unnaturally early. 

Shiro finished loading the final medkits (they would be needing these), he stepped out and closing the doors to the back. Honestly, if anything, this looked like a kidnapping van. Sure the windows weren’t tinted - but who honestly thinks that buying a  _ white van _ isn’t at least a little bit sketchy to start with.

He had told Adam as much and had gotten a good laugh out of him. Thank the gods for his wondrous boyfriend and his beautiful laugh. He is truly blessed.

Adam leaves the keys in the front seat, meeting him behind the van. They both watch as the sun rushes at the horizon, Adam checks his watch.

“It’s already five?” He glares at the sun as if its the star’s fault, and Shiro smiles at the way his nose scrunches slightly at the action, “Also - its only five, do you think..?”

Adam looks at him now, face uneasy, and Shiro instantly switches into protect boyfriend-and brother-and his friends-mode. 

As they stand there, the change in lighting is becoming more and more pronounced. It’s off putting to put it  _ nicely _ , and Shiro is already checking around for anything strange.

“Let’s go get the kids.”

Adam is already jogging by the time he makes the suggestion, and Shiro is left with a perfect view of his boyfriend getting intercepted on his route by a 210 pound mass of shadow. 

Adam is handling himself just fine, and Shiro thinks about pulling the van around for a quicker getaway with the cadets, but that plan is quickly scratched after a look behind him reveals the growing mass of shadow on the horizon and the three hellhounds that already separate him from going back. 

He sighs, and draws his sword and prepares to fight.

. . .

By the time they make it out of the Garrison’s maze of hallways, things outside have gone to shit. 

The hellhounds that were once on the horizon are now circling the lot, Shiro and Adam taking down monsters left and right, only for one hellhound to be replaced with another, an  _ endless _ cycle of slaughter. 

Though they are holding up well, it's not hard to assume that they can't keep up at this rate forever, and they are running out of room to fight with all the fizzling shadow corpses accumulating on the  _ precious _ footage of concrete they have to work with. 

Overall, things aren’t looking too good.

Despite this, Keith doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into the fray, his dagger cutting down enemies and relieving Shiro and Adam the best he can. Kosmo follows him in, and though his small frame doesn’t allow for him to deal much damage he tries his best. Keith works efficiently and effectively, each swing precise and purposeful, and for some reason (crush) Lance struggles to tear his eyes away and contribute too, struggling more so in replicating Keith’s swift strikes. 

Lance hopes that he gets the chance to get a few pointers from Keith about how to use this cool new sword (crush), and maybe they’ll have little lessons or something (crush),  _ that could be fun. _

Hunk continues to just hold Pidge, narrating what is happening, as her eyes have decidedly closed, no longer as writhe-esque as before, but also not painless. 

Upon observation of the battlefield, he finds that he hellhounds have already cut off the route to the van, and have circled around them to block off their way back into the building. They are stranded and are running out of time.

“Guys!” Hunk is watching and listening carefully for Pidges breathing, urgency kicking into a whole new universe of gear, “Pidge is in really bad shape and he needs medical attention soon. We need to get out of here!”

They all know Hunk is freaking out, so they decide to save their breath for fighting and ignore his statement of the obvious.

Lance finds that he keeps watching Keith’s back, making sure that he isn’t getting himself hurt (crush), and after a particularly close encounter, he slashes down his current foe and rushes over to Keith’s side.

“I was just-” Keith slices down another incoming hellhound, “about to call you over.”

Lance finds himself blooming with satisfaction at that (now's not the time for that crush) and grins, not that Keith can really see, “Glad to be of service,” a clumsy strike to another clean swipe by Keith, “how can I help?”

“Just distract them for me.”

And with that, Keith disappears into the chaos, and Lance is left alone to face down monsters in quantities above his pay grade, alone. All he can do is hope he makes it until Keith gets back. 

Keith fights his way over to his hoverbike through a thick mass of monsters, and as soon as he swings a leg over the seat he knows that they are going to be fine. 

As the propellers whir to life, the air whooshes out, scaring the nearby hellhounds enough to where they clear a path for him to drive to his friends (without having to run over some shadow dogs and hurt his  _ beloved _ Red). 

All the hounds are getting pretty spooked by the displaced air and all the noise, but thankfully Kosmo gets the message and hops on the bike with little hesitation, and Keith swings his bike around in front of his friends.

“Get on!” His shout is barely louder than the white noise of the bike and the scared barks of the hounds, but they get the message and pile on as best they can as quickly as they can manage. 

They weigh down the bike substantially, and Keith can hear the engines fight against the increased passenger count. He prays to whatever’s out there that they can make it somewhere safe before his bike needs to cooldown. 

Then, as Hunk passes Pidge to Adam and proceeds to clamber on himself, Keith hears a voice. He looks to the source, but after searching only sees a faint shadow of a taller figure standing behind the hounds. The voice is raspy and somehow manages to be faint and loud and malicious at the same time. He can’t be sure that his mind isn’t playing tricks on him, but he feels like the tall shadow is talking.

By the fact that no one else seems to notice, he feels as though he isn’t supposed to hear or even  _ understand _ this message.

“Do not fear the machine” it says, “do not let them escape.”

And with that, the dogs begin to circle again. By now, everyone is on his bike, and Keith take that as his queue  _ to get the fuck out of there.  _

So he does.

Straight through the wall of hounds and into the Texan desert that he knows so well.

The dogs don’t take long to recuperate and follow. And then, the chase is on. With his craft weighed down, they are significantly slower, and without looking back, he can tell that they should be able to outrun these dogs.

And then Lance’s voice is next to his ear, yelling “Not to panic you, but they are gaining on us!”

_ Fuck you too, universe. _

And Lance’s arms tighten around his waist, because apparently that’s a thing now because the universe is trying to get them  _ killed _ in a gay-ass riding accident, and  _ Jesus _ , he wishes that this could be under different circumstances so he could actually relish this and not risk getting distracted and  _ abso-fucking-lately mc-murdering them all due to his fatty crush on a beautiful straight boy. _

He swerves a little later than desirable to avoid a very obvious rock in front of them and he can feel Shiro’s eyes dig teasingly into his back (really not the time for any of this though!) and he can feel a blush creep up the back of his neck where Lance has now decided to bury his nose and - HOLY FUCK THAT IS A HUGE ASS ROCK - and then they are swerving again and  _ what higher power is testing him right now because goddamn he is ready to straight up die. _

Everything is a mess and Keith ends up swerving a third time when Lance’s arms tighten around him again.

And then…

And then instead of this mindless action distract him like before, his mind suddenly decides to focus and  _ it feels like everything falls into place. _

And then Keith recognizes where they are, and his chaotic, instinctual, and  _ death-wishing _ side comes to the surface and he has a  _ plan _ .

The hellhounds are closing in now, and Lance is currently muttering into his neck about how he wishes he ‘had a gun right about now’ (not helping  _ anymore _ ), and Shiro and Adam’s commentary from back on the tail wings is being washed out by the wind, and Hunk’s panicked rambling is so loud that it feels as if he’s the one behind Keith, and Pidge - the only one that Keith would actually like to hear from right now - is out cold, but he feels like he can pull this off.

Finally a few of Shiro’s words make it through, and he asks, “Wait - are you gonna do the jump?”

“Yeah - hold on!”

Hunk’s rambling seems to pick up speed at that, and Keith takes that as encouragement, speeding up and drifting expertly on the cliffside path that Shiro and he had been practicing on just the other day.

And just as the first hellhound catches up with them, they are over the edge, and free falling to the ground.

And as they fall, he can feel the spike in adrenaline and the thrill that he has yet to tire of. The excitement balls up inside of him, and her can feel the fire light in his stomach as they continue to drop.

From the delighted shout and the matching shriek he can hear from the tail he can tell how Shiro is laughing his ass off at Adam’s mortification and hear Adam’s oncoming lecture about safety to the both of them.

The can hear Hunk’s rambling divulge into straight-up screaming, and he can almost see him squeezing the life out of Pidge, who is still pretty  _ fucking _ unconscious, so no noise from that department. Kosmo howls excitedly, from his place - also in Hunk’s arms - and Keith can imagine his little blue tongue sticking out of his mouth, slobbering into the open air.

One of Lance’s hands leave his middle and he can picture it - thrust up into the air to match his energetic ‘whoop!’

And then Keith hits the propellers, earlier than normal to accommodate for all his passengers, and then they are once again speeding off on solid ground.

Lance looks back, watching the dark silhouettes pace antsily on the ledge, far behind them. None attempt to follow.

Lance leans back into Keith’s ear, shouting obnoxiously (read:  _ endearingly _ ), “We lost them! But where are we gonna go now?”

And then the rest of what Lance is saying fades away, as his senses are overwhelmed by the pungent aroma of burning wood.

The same discount oak his dad used to pick up when he went to retrieve groceries for them to eat after doing a particularly long shift. The same burnt smell that reminded him of the s’mores they would make on those late nights under the stars with their cheap firewood and on sale stale marshmallows.

And then his mind is flooded with memories, memories that aren’t all his, and some that are, but he couldn’t remember until now, ones that should be distorted by age and the fact that he was only a toddler at the time. 

And yet, now he is reminded of his parent’s shack - located in the middle of nowhere, secluded in the Texan desert.

And, as if guided by some unknown force, he follows the pull he feels towards a small dot on the horizon, indistinct and insignificant -  _ but what he knows to be home. _


End file.
